What Pain Leaves Behind: Secondary Gains and Reinterpretations in Women with Fibromyalgia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14422/rib.i31.y2026.002Keywords:
fibromyalgia, secondary gains, reinterpretation of suffering, therapeutic pluralism, hermeneutic bioethicsAbstract
This article examines the concept of secondary gains in the context of chronic pain, specifically in women with fibromyalgia, from an ethical, anthropological, and narrative perspective. Based on accounts gathered in a qualitative study, it analyzes how suffering is not simply loss or impairment, but can generate subjective transformations, affective bonds, and new meanings in life. Far from idealizing pain, the text proposes a critical reinterpretation of it as a complex experience which, under certain conditions, can foster agency, community and the reappropriation of identity. It advocates for hermeneutic bioethics that embraces the plurality of interpretations of suffering and recognizes the moral value of the testimony of those who inhabit the suffering body.
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