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Article: Cultural values & CFIDS. (Shorts).(Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Chrisitianity, & Culture)(Book Review)
- Article from:
- Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients
- Article date:
- July 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Townsend Letter Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Cultural values affect the well-being of people with disabling illness, says anthropologist James M. Rotholz, PhD in his book Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Chrisitianity, & Culture (Haworth Medical Press: New York; ISBN 0-7890-1493-9). Dr. Rotholz, who identifies himself as a devout Christian, had his own career stymied by chronic fatigue syndrome and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS). His wife developed the illness first in 1991. Dr. Rotholz incorrectly believed, like so many who have lived or worked with people with CFIDS, that his wife simply needed to exert will power to 'snap out of it.' When he began experiencing incapacitating symptoms of the same illness in 1996, he ...