When Illness is Not Validated (Meghan ORourke)
\u201cOne reason I wrote the book is that the lack of recognition is such a powerful harm done to patients. And I think until you've gone through an experience like this, it's really hard to convey why that is. But basically it comes down to having the dignity of your suffering possessing. Some kind of meaning, I think, right. And we're all social creatures, right. We don't actually get sick totally alone. It feels lonely. But one reason that my illness was doubly hard was that I had the loneliness of physical symptoms. And then I had the additional of never having them recognized or validated, which made it so much harder.\u201d\xa0\nWriter, journalist, and poet Meghan O\u2019Rourke\u2014a former editor at The New Yorker, and the current editor of The Yale Review\u2014has written stunningly, about many topics in our culture. But her latest book\u2014THE INVISIBLE KINGDOM: REIMAGINING CHRONIC ILLNESS\u2014is a memoir of her own suffering as she navigated the medical world in search of a diagnosis. Her journey to understand what is wrong with her\u2014to even be seen as a sick person\u2014was particularly complex because she has a web of autoimmune diseases, which\u2026is not that uncommon, actually, particularly for younger women. In her book, she explores the complexity of illness and what it means to look fine\u2014vital, even\u2014and yet feel like you\u2019re failing inside, and how quick we are to dismiss suffering we cannot see. Particularly when it\u2019s the suffering of women.\xa0\n\nMORE FROM MEGHAN O\u2019ROURKE:\nTHE INVISIBLE KINGDOM\nSUN IN DAYS\nMEAGHAN\u2019S WRITING FOR THE NEW YORKER\nFOLLOW MEGHAN ON TWITTER\nFOLLOW MEGHAN ON INSTAGRAM\n \nTo learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy\n \n Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices