Preprint Contesting oppressive regimes of truth: A critical feminist re-examination of (bio)psychosocial hegemony in the field of ME/CFS, 2023, Hunt

https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/3g7kp/

Hunt, Joanne E. 2023. “Contesting Oppressive Regimes of Truth: A Critical Feminist Re-examination of (bio)psychosocial Hegemony in the Field of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.” SocArXiv. August 10. doi:10.31235/osf.io/3g7kp.

CONTESTING (BIO)PSYCHOSOCIAL REGIMES OF TRUTH

J. E. HUNT

Abstract

Myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome, a disabling condition disproportionately affecting women, is predominantly clinically managed through a (bio)psychosocial lens with psychosocial-inspired therapies, criticised for facilitating social and epistemic injustice, psychological and physical harms.

Whilst most literature contesting (bio)psychosocial practices espouses a mainstream scientific perspective, politics and power relations undergirding psychosocial hegemony are better explicated through a critical lens.

This article re-examines the ascendancy of psychosocial therapies and related practices through a critical feminist psychology and Foucauldian lens, with a view to locating oppressive practices in their socio-political and cultural context and promoting dialogue on possibilities for positive social change.