Spanish study: Risk of suicide due to neglect amongst PWME [people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis]

[Dolphin]

Spanish study: Risk of suicide due to neglect amongst PWME [people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis]

This is based on a PhD thesis.

http://bit.ly/1qCXjFu
i.e.
https://afectadasporlosrecortessanitarios.wordpress.com/2016/05/11/risk-of-suicide-due-to-neglect-amongst-pwme/

Please contact a helpline (e.g. the Samaritans) if you ever feel suicidal

 

[alex3619]

We don't have enough information to properly evaluate this. If I read Spanish and could get hold of the PhD thesis, or there was an English version of the entire thesis, and I had the energy, then maybe I could say a lot. I do see this issue in everyday life for PWME though. Its not a surprise.

 

[msf]

To put this in context, suicide rates have increased significantly in Spain since the recession.

 

[Effi]

full text of thesis (in Spanish): http://uvadoc.uva.es/bitstream/10324/13868/1/Tesis705-150928.pdf

The first part of this thesis consists of an overview of the literature on ME/CFS, and an overview of a whole range of concepts that define ‘depression’. The hypothesis is then empirically tested through extensive questionaires filled out by patients at home.

Patients willing to participate were found through various Spanish patient organisations. The requirements were: having a diagnosis of ME/CFS (Canadian Criteria), and residing anywhere in Spain. An extensive packet of questionaires was sent to each patient to be filled out and sent back (by post).

Used questionaires: depression (BDI), hopelessness (BHS), suicide risk (BDI), hope (Snyder ADHS), sense of coherence (SOC-13), locus of control (Rotter Scale), social support (Vaux SS-A-R), coping (Folkman/Lazarus WOC-RR), psychological wellbeing (Ryff SPWB), and quality of life (SF-36).

205 out of 216 of the filled out questionaires (79,99%) were deemed valid. 187 participants were women, 18 were men. 41 were single, 119 married or in a long-term relationship, 37 divorced and 8 widowed. Schooling level: 14 primary level education, 39 lower secondary level education, 72 higher secondary level education, and 80 university level education.

Limitations of the study that he mentions: age range of participants and geographical range were on the narrow side.

Conclusion: the probability for ME/CFS patients to have depression, hopelessness and suicide risk can be found in three areas (automatic google translation):

(1) Severe symptoms experienced by patients with ME / CFS - characterized by great physical and mental fatigue that is not relieved by rest-along to -faringitis other symptoms or tonsillitis, tender lymph nodes, muscle pain, joint pain, headaches, sleep disturbance and discomfort that persists for more than twenty four hours after a work-requires a major effort to adapt to it.

(2) The sociodemographic and clinical circumstances, which can be subdivided into two. On the one hand those we regard as inevitable; ie those that arise because of being sick ME / CFS, such as the sudden limitations because of the disease in relation to the areas of "Leisure", "Unit" and "Environmental / Chemical". On the other Avoidable "that is, caused by behavioral interventions from outside the sick person, as are those of all intrusive and very deleterious Sanitary areas, psychological, labor, financial and social and family of daily life person.

(3) modulating variables, mainly those who have demonstrated a high power to reduce, significantly, the effects of sociodemographic circumstances and clinics, such as quality of life, sense of coherence and psychological wellbeing.

So if in a person suffering from ME / CFS converge the three independent macro-variables: the harsh characteristics of the disease characteristics, some demographic circumstances and clinics, which invade the most significant areas of the person, limiting and deteriorating severely the daily life of these patients, and deficient modulatory variables, then the chance of developing states of depression, hopelessness and suicide risk is multiplied at high levels (dependent variable).

Results in numbers:

The most significant result in this study is the incidence, amongst PWME, of risk of suicide which is 12.75%, compared to the incidence in the general Spanish population which is 2.3%. The incidence of depression amongst these PWME is 57.25%, compared to the incidence in the general Spanish population which is 4%. And the incidence of hopelessness amongst these PWME is 66.85% (there are no studies of hopelessness in the general Spanish population).