Illness Without a Cause—Patients with a Cause: Online Self-Help/Mutual Aid Organizations for Functional Syndromes in the United States and Germany

Abstract

This article examines the goals and purposes of internet-based self-help/ mutual aid organizations (SHOs) for people afflicted with functional syndromes. Online SHOs for functional syndromes in the United States and Germany are analyzed and compared. The analysis is guided by a distinctive conceptual framework combining medical sociology and self-help/mutual aid literature. The article contributes to the literature on online SHOs and health social movements by showing that online SHOs are dual purpose organizations: they assist sufferers and engage in advocacy. The SHOs also contribute to health social movements. The SHOs demand a biomedical explanation and treatment of the functional syndromes and use the Internet extensively to pursue their advocacy and educational goals. The particular perspectives and activities of the SHOs in Germany and the United States result from different concepts of health and disease as well as different advocacy venues. However, the American SHOs’ viewpoint dominates. *The article is based on the author’s Ph.D. research.