Language Research in Practice – Women in the "Waiting Room"

2007/05/21 14:33

Press Release from:

Austrian Science Fund FWF

It is more difficult for doctors to diagnose complex sources of pain in women than in men and the reasons for this are rooted in language use. This finding, which is of major importance for both doctors and patients, is revealed by a now completed project by the FWF Austrian Science Fund. The results of this research into how the two genders typically describe pain are to be presented at the 2nd International Congress of Gender Medicine on 2nd and 3rd June in Vienna.

For quite some time, we have all known that men are from Mars and women from Venus, but scientific

Language Research in Practice – Women in the "Waiting Room"

Due to communication difficulties women are at disadvantage when it comes to the treatment of pain.

research has now proven that, when it comes to describing complex pain, men and women are worlds apart. This finding comes from studies that investigated patients suffering from complex headaches. While female patients give doctors brief and vague illustrations of their complaints, men describe their pain in an extremely concrete manner. This means that male patients are at an advantage when it comes to treatment as an accurate analysis of pain is essential for both diagnosis and therapy.

Image and text will be available online from Monday, 21st May 2007, 09.00 a.m. CET onwards:
http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/public_relations/press/pv200705-en.html

Scientific Contact:
Prof. Florian Menz
University of Vienna
Department of Linguistics
Berggasse 11
1090 Wien, Austria
T +43 / 1 / 4277 - 417 21
E florian.menz@univie.ac.at

Austrian Science Fund FWF:
Mag. Stefan Bernhardt
Haus der Forschung
Sensengasse 1
1090 Wien, Austria
T +43 / 1 / 505 67 40 - 8111
E stefan.bernhardt@fwf.ac.at

Copy Editing and Distribution:
PR&D - Public Relations for Research & Development
Campus Vienna Biocenter 2
1030 Wien, Austria
T +43 / 1 / 505 70 44
E contact@prd.at

Vienna, 21st May 2007