Article is penned by man in discomfort (7)
I believe the answer is:
malaise
'discomfort' is the definition.
(malaise is a kind of discomfort)
'article is penned by man' is the wordplay.
'article' becomes 'a' (indefinite article).
'penned by' is an insertion indicator.
'man' becomes 'male' (**).
'a'+'is'='ais'
'ais' put into 'male' is 'MALAISE'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for malaise that I've seen before include "Uneasy feeling" , "depression" , "flu perhaps" , "General feeling of discomfort" , "Feeling of impending illness" .)