Metamorfoses identitárias em mulheres com fibromialgia: um estudo clínico-qualitativo

Abstract

Fibromyalgia is a rheumatological syndrome that mainly affects middle-aged women and is mainly characterized by the presence of chronic physical pain in the musculoskeletal system. Furthermore, fibromyalgia tends to cause suffering capable of exerting a disruptive effect on identity. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate the issue of identity in women with fibromyalgia. This is an excerpt from a more extensive research, whose methodological design was organized according to the characteristics of the clinical-qualitative method. The present study had as participants two women with fibromyalgia, who were intentionally selected because, during data collection, they spontaneously presented reports concerning the issue of identity in fibromyalgia. Data collection took place through a group interview guided by the Drawing-Story with Theme Procedure. The corpus was submitted to content analysis. The results reveal that, for the participants, fibromyalgia triggered changes, predominantly negative, in regarding personal, social and professional identity. Briefly, it was noted that the participants’ relationship with themselves was modified by the syndrome, they also began to experience the feeling that they ceased to be who they were before, and to feel powerless, fragile, unassisted and misunderstood in their relationships as a whole.