Doctors required lesions to accept illness without delirium as real.

Evidence

The first difficulty was that doctors had real problems recognizing these illnesses, not only with regard to issuing a diagnosis but also with regard to determining that the patient was actually sick. … Since the patients showed no signs of delirium, doctors tended to believe they were imagining their ailments and being self-centred. They should be listened to patiently but also, from time to time, be given a good shake. … Doctors needed lesions or pathogenic agents in order to be convinced of the existence of an illness. — Alain Ehrenberg, The Weariness of the Self, 276

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Psychiatric validity depends on consensus because no lesions anchor disorders — Alain Ehrenberg, The Weariness of the Self: Diagnosing…, 719