best source of info

[glor]

Hello,
Our daughter was extremely ill with CFIDS for years when she was younger but is now in remission praise the Lord. Unfortunately her husband was abusive to her over the last 10 years and they are now separated and have an upcoming custody trial in Nov. We think he might try and use her illness against her and say it is psychological rather than organic in origin. He may refer to her depression and say it was part of the illness of cfids. In reality, her depression was post-partum and from the horrible way he treated her! Can anybody tell me what would be the best source of information that we could give to her lawyer to indicate that cfids is indeed organic in etiology and not psychological?
Thanks so much, glor

 

[Stone]

I can't think of a particularly great source of info besides the article by the CAA that quotes Anthony Komaroff, professor of medicine at Harvard, stating that the time for thinking of CFS as a psychological illness is past. Perhaps others can steer you in the right direction, as well as the medical library here on this forum.

One thing that did cross my mind that also helped me in a similar situation was getting myself evaluated by a neuropsychologist who was familiar with CFS and chronic pain. He was able to do extensive testing on me and generate a 10 page report with several conclusions, one of which was that I had no mental illness other than mild reactive depression secondary to my illness and his opinion was that I was self-managing it satisfactorily and was not in need of professional therapy. He went on to say that it was not of a nature that would affect my judgement or reasoning, etc. If you make an appointment with a psychologist and explain the problem and ask him to make an evaluation for this purpose, you might get him/her to help. The psychologists I have met since my illness have had no trouble at all understanding that this is a medical condition conveniently tossed in the psychological bin by physicians because they can't treat it effectively nor cure it. I have not found this to be the case with psychiatrists who, in my own opinion, see a mental illness that needs psychotropic medicine and long term therapy under every stone they turn. Best of luck, and I'm sorry you and she must face such a trying and stressful time as this. My prayers and sympathies are with you.

 

[gracenote]

glor,

Take a look at this. It has very good and useful information.

http://sacfs.asn.au/download/guidelines_psychiatrists.pdf

Assessment and Treatment of Patients with ME/CFS: Clinical Guidelines for Psychiatrists

Author: Dr. Eleanor Stein

This paper will:

• Define ME/CFS

• Explain why ME/CFS is not a psychiatric disorder despite that a significant subgroup of patients have psychiatric diagnoses.

• Outline how to differentiate the symptoms of ME/CFS from those of depression and anxiety.

• Suggest a treatment approach for common psychiatric symptoms in patients with ME/CFS.

• Summarize psychological treatment issues in patients with ME/CFS.

• Explain issues relevant to children and adolescents with ME/CFS

• Discuss the treatment issues of drug sensitivity and the utility of Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Graded Exercise in patients with ME/CFS​

.​