A thematic analysis on papers about fibromyalgia in the Argentine printed press: general descriptions and the role of psychology

Since fibromyalgia was first conceptualized in 1990, it has been studied in terms of its validity as a diagnosis, its definition as a disease and its treatment. These issues have been addressed within different biomedical and social sciences disciplines, including psychology, psychiatry, anthropology and sociology. In this paper, we discuss how knowledge about fibromyalgia is disseminated in Argentina, through thematic analysis of the papers on this syndrome published in the printed press. We analyze how newspaper articles describe fibromyalgia – including general characteristics, causal hypotheses and treatments – and how the media describes the role of psychology in its treatment.

Fibromyalgia; Means of communication; Thematic analysis; Psychology