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Qualitative Health Research
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Disability-Induced Identity Changes in Persons With Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Pamela Reed Gibson

James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia

Elizabeth Placek

Wake Forest University in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Jennifer Lane

Mt. Vernon, Virginia

Sacha Ostroff Brohimer

Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, Virginia

Amy C. Earehart Lovelace

Charlottesville, Virginia

In this qualitative study, the authors asked respondents with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) in an open-ended question how having the condition affected their identities. Authors then examined responses for themes, which they discuss within the framework of critical theory. Emergent themes included loss of a stable, familiar personality, loss of self-positioning, emotional suppression to meet others’ expectations, redesigning the planned life, forced growth, struggling with support, discovering the spiritual self, and identity reconsolidation. The authors compare findings with published works on adjustment to chronic illness and other delegitimized illnesses, find them to be fairly congruent, and then discuss problems regarding cultural acceptance of MCS as a condition caused by chemical exposure.

Key Words: multiple chemical sensitivity • environmental illness • identity • chronic illness • chemical injury

Qualitative Health Research, Vol. 15, No. 4, 502-524 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/1049732304271960
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[Abstract] [PDF]