Therapeutic impasses in medically unexplained symptoms

Abstract

Despite patients with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) being amongst the most challenging clinical populations with which to work, current trends have encouraged practitioners to consider therapeutic difficulties in increasingly simplistic terms. This paper argues that the challenges faced when working with those with MUS are inextricably linked to social and cultural factors associated with the contested nature of their illness, and that these socio-cultural factors are replicated in the therapeutic relationship.