Trudie Chalder book on Chronic Fatigue to be prescribed to patients by NHS

[Esther12]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/feb/01/stress-depression-books-your-suggestions

Can't sleep? Anxious? A book might be just the thing to help.
Instead of just pills, the Reading Agency is suggesting GPs should prescribe books for patients with mild to moderate mental health problems. They've drawn up a list of 30 titles:
Anger Overcoming Anger and Irritability by William Davies
Overcoming Anxiety Kennerley by Helen Robinson
Overcoming Anxiety, Stress and Panic : A Five Areas Approach by Chris Williams
Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway Susan Jeffers
Overcoming Binge Eating Christopher G Fairburn
Getting Better Bit(e) by Bit(e): A Survival Kit for Sufferers of Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorders by Ulrike Schmidt and Janet Treasure
Overcoming Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Peter J Cooper
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (second edition) by Frankie Campling and Michael Sharpe
Overcoming Chronic Fatigue Mary Burgess and Trudie Chalder
Overcoming Chronic Pain by Frances Cole, Catherine Carus, Hazel Howden- Leach and Helen Macdonald
Overcoming Depression and Low Mood: A Five Areas Approach (third edition) by Chris Williams
Mind Over Mood: Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think by Dennis Greenberger and Christine Padesky
Overcoming Depression: A Guide to Recovery with a Complete Self-help Programme by Paul Gilbert
Overcoming Health Anxiety by Veale David and Rob Willson
Introduction to Coping with Health Anxiety by Brenda Hogan and Charles Young
Overcoming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder by David Veale and Rob Willson
Understanding Obsessions and Compulsions by Frank Tallis
Break Free from OCD: Overcoming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with CBT by Fiona Challacombe, Victoria Oldfield, Bream and Paul M Salkowskis
Overcoming Panic and Agoraphobia by Derrick Silove and by Vijaya Manicavasagar
Panic Attacks: What They Are, Why They Happen and What You Can Do About Them by Christine Ingham
An Introduction to Coping with Phobias by Brenda Hogan
Overcoming Relationship Problems by Michael Crowe
Self-Esteem Overcoming Low Self- Esteem by Melanie Fennell
The Feeling Good Handbook by David Burns
Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness Gillian Butler
Overcoming Insomnia and Sleep Problems by Colin A Espie
The Relaxation and Stress Reduction workbook by Martha Davis
Manage your Stress for a Healthier Life by Terry Looker and Gregson, Olga
The Worry Cure: Stop Worrying and Start Living by Robert L Leahy
How to Stop Worrying by Frank Tallis
According to Professor Neil Frude, the scheme isn't aimed at people with "serious illnesses", but if you're struggling with obsessions, panic or self-esteem maybe you could find solace beyond the self-help shelves. Great writing offers consolations of a different sort, but what are the memoirs, the essays or even the great fiction which you would prescribe?

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I've not read the book, but I know people who have and think it's crap. I'd rate Chalder as one of the top quacks around CFS, so it's probably not a good thing.... maybe this one book is a wonderful piece of work though.

 

[Little Bluestem]

I do not have any problem with this in principle. I think people should be well informed about their health problems, including those with serious illnesses. Reading good books is one way of becoming informed. I do not know if most of these are good books.

I have read The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook by Martha Davis. I thought it was a good book. It did not help with my then undiagnosed ME. It may have helped with dealing with the fact that I had an undiagnosed, and thus untreated, health problem that was gradually worsening.

Is there any way those in the UK can express their opinion of the books on the list and suggest replacements for those they think are not the best choice? Barring that, how about having the people who have read the book put a review of it on Amazon? I'd think it would look bad for GPs to be recommending books with bad reviews.

ETA: I notice that the book co-authored by Trudy Chalder is titled Overcoming Chronic Fatigue. That would likely have very little if anything applicable to chronic fatigue syndrome. If a GP were to recommend it to a CFS/ME patient that would be inappropriate.

If the people who think the book is crap have ME/CFS, that isn’t really fair to the authors since they were not writing for them. If someone actually has the book recommended to them for ME/CFS, then it might be OK to put a warning on Amazon that the book is being wrongly recommended by British medical practitioners.

ETA again: I looked up Overcoming Chronic Fatigue on Amazon. It has two reviews, both one-star. From them, I gather that the authors are writing about CFS. That makes them open to criticism.

 

[Valentijn]

The group making the recommendations is "The Reading Agency". They have an article about it at http://readingagency.org.uk/news/blog/announcing-the-reading-well-books-on-prescription-scheme.html

My guess is that they know absolutely nothing about ME/CFS.

"For further information contact Debbie Hicks on debbie.hicks@readingagency.org.uk"

That organization also has a Facebook page where comments can be left at https://www.facebook.com/readingagency

 

[clive powney]

The last time I was prescribed a book by the NHS I ended up in casualty as it got stuck in my throat. Thank God it wasn't a suppository! Saying that, this would maybe be the best bet for these books.

 

[Tito]

The book I would to read is:

Overcoming years of doctors' ignorance, disbelief and ridicule

 

[SilverbladeTE]

Propaganda....
*makes rude gesture in air, regarding male self stimulation*

 

[barbc56]

So another simplistic answer(s) to life's problems. Just pull up your bootstraps and suck it up. Life is really much more complicated than that but some just don't consider that.
Barb

 

[Research 1st]

This sends a very confusing message to patients.

The UK Department of Health's chief medical officer conveyed long ago that ME should be treated the same as other neurological disorders.

Are other people with neurological disorders also prescribed this book that states that their symptoms are based on pavlovian conditioning
of fear of activity and learnt responses from disabilities that are now gone?

If the NHS was a private health care company they likely wouldn't have any customers with ME CFS!

 

[jimells]

I always appreciate folks sending me these kind of books. They work great for starting fires in the wood furnace

 

[Esther12]

I just thought I'd add in this link to a thread about how Chalder has been spinning her results to make it seem like her interventions are more valuable than they really are, just so people know that my scepticism about her work is not entirely unfounded:

http://forums.phoenixrising.me/inde...l-intervention-to-aid-reco.13326/#post-332387