Changes in Representations of “Contested Illnesses” : An Analysis of NHK TV Programs on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

ロンソウチュウ　ノ　ヤマイ　ノ　ヒョウショウ　ノ　ヘンセン　キンツウセイ　ノウセキズイエン　マンセイ　ヒロウ　ショウコウグン　ニ　カンスル　NHK　ノ　テレビ　バングミ　ノ　ブンセキ　カラ

ノジマ, ナツコ

Nojima, Natsuko

オオサカ ダイガク ダイガクイン ニンゲン カガク ケンキュウカ シャカイガク ニンゲンガク ジンルイガク ケンキュウシツ

Sociology, Anthropology and Philosophy, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University

筋痛性脳脊髄炎／慢性疲労症候群

表象

「異常」の可視化

病気の「脱女性化」

contested illnesses

myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome

representation

visualization of “abnormality,”

“defeminization” of the disease

Research Notes

This study aimed to clarify changes in the representation of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), which are representative of a group of “contested illnesses,” through the analysis of NHK TV programs. In this paper, changes in the representation of ME/CFS in NHK TV programs were analyzed by applying three period classifi cations. First, in the 1990s, ME/CFS was represented as “weakness of women” or “compensation for women’s social progress.” Second, from the 2000s to early 2010s, it was represented as a “modern disease” that all “modern people” who were stressed at work and school could suffer from. Finally, in 2015, it was presented as a serious “intractable disease” to be researched and treated. Changes in the representation of ME/CFS characterize it as an “abnormality” prior to the “defeminization” of the disease. Initially, the symptoms of ME/CFS were regarded as a woman’s problem that expressed her feelings about the stress of modern life, and gradually data was collected that indicated it was an “abnormality.” From the 2000s, the symptoms of ME/CFS were explained in terms of “abnormal brain function” using patients’ brain images. Also, in parallel with the visualization of this “abnormality,” ME/CFS, originally regarded as a “unique” problem for women, before being “defeminized” as a disease that anyone could acquire. The visualization of “abnormality” and the subsequent “defeminization” of the disease seem to have contributed to the transformation of the representation of ME/CFS into a serious “intractable disease.”