I feel I need to declare that I'm not a CBT/GET supporter, but essentially the hypothesis of a "sickness response" gone wrong in the brain is quite similar as to the hypothesis of Gerard Pereira that was recently featured on Health Rising. According to Pereira, resetting the HPA axis by a drug that affects the stress receptors in the brain could potentially reverse CFS/ME quickly. So the hypothesis in both research approaches might be sound.
well, I'm not a CBT/GETsupporter either...
resetting the HPA axis by a drug that affects the stress receptors in the brain
yes, but in that case they should look at underlying physical vulnerabilities. Not focus on mental weaknesses.
Myhill says in her book that the underlying vulnerability is the endogeneous opoid system. I have been treated by a therapist that targeted this. He helped me from bedbound to housebound in a few months ( and then a virus came along, again getting my intestines totally out of whack, but that's another story)
If that hypothesis should be true, then we can better understand why so many people have need of a gluten and dairyfree diet. Why LDN is helping to diminish problems.
Looking at this as a ( former, out of job due to ME) childpsychologist, I know that children born from unduly stressed mothers have a higher risk to have ' behavioral problems'. To me behavioral problems equates with problems to regulate emotions, which equates to problems with the HPA axis ( yes building a row of domino's here)
The interaction between these kids and their caregivers is often described as 'unsafe attachment relation'. ( sorry, cannot find the english words for this, will look for it later)This does not mean that abuse or things like that are the problem. It's a relation that is founded on making the child as independent as (s)he can be.
This kind of rearing ( which is not rare) combined with a weak stress-system can, imho, lead to overtaxing of the HPA-axis. It leads to children/people who are ambitious, work hard, have the need to show that they are worthy ( to put it simple). This because their caregivers did put emphasis on being self-reliant. Kids get praise when they show how self-reliant they are.
But if the root of this problem is indeed in the endogenous opoid system, that system should be targeted.
( but, even when you target that, the problems with gut ( and a hoard of other things i think) are not solved, all the damage that has been done in all those years needs to be cleared up too...
My therapist said something like: when you're under stress ( whether psychological or physiological) the first line of defense is the EOS, when stress gets prolonged the HPA axis springs into action. If this is true, then with a compromised EOS, the HPA will be overtaxed without fail....
Earlier I have wondered how the stress from the mother during pregnancy so often is correlated with behavioral problems in the child. But reading some research on mice, where stressed mousemums indeed produced stressed kidmice. And a significant reduction of thingies in the endogeneous opoid system was found in the brains of the kids.
ah well, this is my pet theory
(would that my head functioned better, i think it mighty interesting.)