Dumit, Joseph · Social science & medicine (1982) · 2006 · DOI
This study examines why ME/CFS and multiple chemical sensitivity remain controversial and hard to get diagnosed. Researchers found that patients often struggle because doctors and institutions lack clear biological evidence for these illnesses, and they use scientific uncertainty as a reason to deny patients care and legitimacy. Patients have responded by documenting these exclusions and developing their own strategies to fight back.
This work documents the systematic barriers ME/CFS patients face in gaining medical recognition and care, showing that the problem lies not just in individual patient experiences but in institutional and rhetorical strategies that deny legitimacy. Understanding these mechanisms can help patients and advocates anticipate and counter the arguments used to exclude them from diagnosis and support.
This study does not establish the biological mechanisms of ME/CFS or prove whether specific biomarkers exist or do not exist. It is a qualitative social analysis, not a clinical investigation, and does not address the actual pathophysiology of the disease.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Dumit, Joseph (2006). Illnesses you have to fight to get: facts as forces in uncertain, emergent illnesses.. Social science & medicine (1982). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.06.018
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-dumit-2006-illnesses-you,
author = {Dumit, Joseph},
title = {Illnesses you have to fight to get: facts as forces in uncertain, emergent illnesses.},
journal = {Social science & medicine (1982)},
year = {2006},
doi = {10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.06.018},
note = {PubMed: 16085344},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/dumit-2006-illnesses-you},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/dumit-2006-illnesses-you
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