RSD: A Case Study Essay

Arthur Kleinman defines illness as “to conjure up the innately human experience of symptoms and suffering” (A. Kleinman, 1988, p.3). This suffering can take many different forms, ranging anywhere from the common cold to cancer. For the past 21 years, my father has been battling his own form of illness. A rare nerve disorder known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) now called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS-II). In my father’s case, RSD was caused by an on the job crash injury to his left forearm and wrist. Since then, he has gone through countless treatments, medications, and prayers to cure himself of this illness. As we look through his experiences, connections will analyzed in relation to works such as Healing Elements (S. Craig, 2012), The Illness Narratives (A. Kleinman, 1988), and Medical Anthropology (Wiley, Allen, 2013). Through this analysis, it can be seen that patients are willing to go to any measures in hopes of relief from their illnesses. But, what exactly is RSD? According to my father, RSD is a …show more content…
Thereby, starting a lifelong mission to find a cure using both biomedicine and alternative medical techniques. The multiple pursuit of healing systems is what is known as medical pluralism (Wiley, Allen, 2010, p.43). In the quest to find relief from this illness, my father relied on relationships between these various forms of treatment. This is what is known as social ecologies. Sienna Craig defines social ecologies as “the interrelationships among environmental, socioeconomic, biological, political, and cosmological sources of, or explanations for, health problems” (S. Craig, 2012, p.5). Nonetheless, it can be seen that a combination of both modern and traditional techniques are used to treat today’s