Den rummelige forskningsdiagnose: Om fravær og forhandlingsrum i tilblivelsen af en diagnose

Resumé

Antropologiske studier af diagnoser har fra mange forskellige vinkler diskuteret og belyst, hvilken social betydning det kan have at være diagnosticeret med en bestemt diagnose – og, tilsvarende, hvad det kan betyde at mangle en diagnose. Bodily Distress Syndrome (BDS) er en ny forskningsdiagnose, der endnu ikke figurerer i de internationale diagnosemanualer, og som i en vis forstand befinder sig i krydsfeltet mellem diagnose og ’ikke-diagnose’.
På baggrund af et etnografisk feltarbejde i Danmark udforsker vi i artiklen, hvilke forhandlingsmuligheder der for mennesker med Bodily Distress Syndrome knytter sig til at blive diagnosticeret med en forskningsdiagnose. Med fokus på diagnosens tilblivelsesfase viser vi, at den særlige ikke-synlighed, der ligger indlejret i BDS-diagnosen, i visse sammenhænge er forbundet med bestemte muligheder for mennesker med BDS. Ud fra en teoretisk forståelse af fravær som ejendel, argumenterer vi for, at ikke-synligheden åbner op for et rum for forhandling om diagnosens indholdsmæssige beskaffenhed, og at mennesker med BDS – i dette forhandlingsrum – kan tage medejerskab over tilblivelsen og afgrænsningen af BDS som diagnose og fænomen.

A room for negotiation – On absence and flexibility in the becoming of a diagnosis
Anthropological studies of diagnoses have from several perspectives discussed and shed light on the social meaning and implication of having or not having a diagnosis. Bodily Distress Syndrome (BDS) is a new research diagnosis that does not yet appear in WHO’s International Classification of Diseases. In that sense BDS is situated in a position of structural ambiguity, simultaneously being and not being a real diagnosis.
Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Denmark this article examines the possibilities of negotiation connected to being diagnosed with a research diagnosis. Focusing on the very becoming of BDS the article suggests that the absence in the diagnosis of clear pathological findings offers certain possibilities to people recently diagnosed with BDS. Leaning on a theoretical understanding of absence as a specific kind of possession, we argue that the absence opens up a room for negotiation of the content of the diagnosis, thereby offering people with BDS a shared ownership of the becoming and elaboration of the phenomenon BDS.