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Test effort in persons with CFS when assessed using the Validity Indicator Profile

Dolphin

Senior Member
Messages
17,567
"These findings suggest that poor effort is unlikely to contribute to cognitive test performance of persons with CFS."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22440059

Test effort in persons with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome when assessed using the Validity Indicator Profile.

J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2012 Mar 23. [Epub ahead of print]

Cockshell SJ, Mathias JL.

Source
a School of Psychology , The University of Adelaide , Adelaide , SA , Australia.

Abstract*

The current study examined the potential contribution of suboptimal effort to the cognitive deficits that are associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) using the Validity Indicator Profile (VIP).

Unlike most tests of effort, the VIP distinguishes between intentional and unintentional poor performance and does not assess cognitive functions that are affected by CFS, thereby reducing the risk of mistakenly attributing genuinely poor performance to reduced effort.

The VIP was administered to 54 persons with CFS and 54 matched healthy community controls, and performance categorized into 1 of 4 response styles (valid: compliant; invalid: suppressed, irrelevant, inconsistent), based on the level of effort expended (high or low) and the intention to perform well or not.

VIP performance was classified as valid for the majority of participants (CFS and controls), indicating high levels of effort and an intention to perform well.

Three participants in the CFS group and four in the control group showed low levels of effort but an intention to do well (invalid:
inconsistent).

No participant performed in a manner indicative of an intent to perform poorly (invalid: suppressed, inconsistent).

These findings suggest that poor effort is unlikely to contribute to cognitive test performance of persons with CFS.

PMID: 22440059 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

*I gave each sentence its own paragraph
 

Dolphin

Senior Member
Messages
17,567
Do you mean van der Werf et al 2000? (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10910092) : "Compared with the MS group (13%), a larger proportion of the matched CFS group (30%) obtained scores indicative of reduced effort."
I have read it and have some notes on it questioning it so I think that might be it.

As I may have said before, a useful way to get a lot of these Dutch psychological papers is to look for a PhD involving them. The full text of this is in the Van der Werf PhD: http://dare.ubn.kun.nl/bitstream/2066/19231/1/19231_deteancoo.pdf (link from: http://dare.ubn.kun.nl/handle/2066/19231)
 

WillowJ

คภภเє ɠรค๓թєl
Messages
4,940
Location
WA, USA
thanks, Dolphin. I saw a write-up on this at ProHealth, but when I searched by title I didn't find an abstract or anything (and didn't even find this page from the search engine, which is unusual, but I suppose I should have tried more than one search engine). So glad to find this. :Retro smile:
 

pine108kell

Senior Member
Messages
146
I don't understand how a fifty minute functional test can detect CFS. I am pretty sick but I can function somewhat mentally and physically for 50 minutes if forced to do so. I still have two arms and two legs, I can move around for periods and I can think for periods of time. I think this test would be worthless for me. CFS is so much more complicated that what someone can do in an hour. I don't understand why this is important research for CFS.

I am also noting that a majority of the CFS studies posted in this section regard CBT, GET, pysch babble. Anyone that really has this disease knows these things are virtually worthless, so is there a point? Sorry if this sounds aggressive but it is frustrating to see all these worthless studies.
 

Enid

Senior Member
Messages
3,309
Location
UK
pine I quite agree - many years myself unable to move very much nor think, recall, locked into a half world - you fight all this and the psychobabblers bent on measuring this or that when the problem of the day is making the bathroom, keeping clean or remembering to eat. No room for CBT, GET.
 

Dolphin

Senior Member
Messages
17,567
I am also noting that a majority of the CFS studies posted in this section regard CBT, GET, pysch babble. Anyone that really has this disease knows these things are virtually worthless, so is there a point? Sorry if this sounds aggressive but it is frustrating to see all these worthless studies.
Just because they're posted, doesn't mean most or even the majority of the posters agree with them. Papers are analysed indepth. Some people go on to write letters to editors challenging the papers. Few people in the whole world do this. Some of us think this is an important activity.

Unfortunately there aren't lots of biological studies published in the field. But there are certainly plenty of people, probably most people, interested in those findings also.
 

Dolphin

Senior Member
Messages
17,567
Nobody is forced to read the threads they are not interested in.

Lots of people follow stuff I'm not interested in. However, I wouldn't consider it good manners to go into other subforums or other forums on other subjects and ask individuals publicly why they spend so much time on something I'm less interested in or choose to spend less time on (unless it was having some effect on me).

We don't live in a police state where one is restricted in how much one is allowed read on particularly topics.
 
Messages
15,786
I am also noting that a majority of the CFS studies posted in this section regard CBT, GET, pysch babble. Anyone that really has this disease knows these things are virtually worthless, so is there a point? Sorry if this sounds aggressive but it is frustrating to see all these worthless studies.

A lot of us are stuck dealing with healthcare systems where these piss-poor studies are considered the authority on ME/CFS. Knowing what they are saying makes it a lot easier to cope, and allows us to respond intelligently to accusations of depression, malingering, deconditioning, conversion disorder, etc.

These papers generate quite a bit of discussion here, almost all of it aimed at dissecting the protocols used and the interpretations of results. Thanks to reading those analyses, I could probably list multiple problems with the most prominent psych research papers off the top of my head. This information also helps in dealing with family members that read the latest article about CBT curing ME/CFS, not to mention insidious self-doubt.

I also find it fun, maybe even therapeutic, to read and join in with the trouncing of these papers :)
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
The standard neuropsych battery in the USA according to a presentation at CFSAC (I think 2010?) goes for three hours. It is highly specific and heavily focussed on processing delays. This paper was not testing CFS or ME; they were testing the validity of patient claims. Its a lie detector test. Bye, Alex
 

Hope123

Senior Member
Messages
1,266
Yes, the point of this paper, from the abstract at least, is not to point out what the deficits in CFS are but rather that the deficits displayed by CFS patients are not exaggerated or done intentionally to deceive. It's similar to the exercise studies done by the Pacific Fatigue Lab using certain biological parameters to prove that subjects were exercising to their maximum ability yet were still doing poorly compared to healthy controls. ME/CFS patients get accused all the time by family, friends, healthcare workers, society, etc. that they are "faking" or "exaggerating" their symptoms and just "not trying hard enough."

Such a paper can be used to counter these claims for example when one is trying to obtain financial/ health insurance assistance through the government (e.g. in the US, Medicare and SSDI). Thank your lucky stars that these researchers were concerned enough to investigate this topic.