Thank you Esther! That has enabled me to clarify a tentative conclusion that I have reached regarding the CFS clinic local to me, the head of whom is one of the creators of the Oxford criteria.
For many years, I was the co-ordinator/chairperson of the county support group until ill health and deaths amongst the committee members meant that we had to put the group in abeyance.
Just to wind back in time to shortly before we fell off our perches through ill-health or death, a certain document fell into my hands: it was the transcript of a talk given by a certain psychiatrist to a medical conference in the south of England. The speaker was the person I mentioned above. Clearly with the intention of entertaining his medical colleagues in the audience, his talk was peppered with mocking and derogatory statements about ME patients. I was shocked and dismayed to read how the seriously ill were regarded as a source of entertainment to those who were charged with their care. I was even more shocked to find that this person was a little later appointed as head of the then newly formed county 'CFS' clinic.
As people call me enquiring about the provision of help for ME patients, I thought I had better do a little research. I phoned the CFS clinic and said I had been contacted by someone with a diagnosis of ' Myalgic Encephalomyelitis' and enquired whether it would it be appropriate for the patient to be referred to them for help. I assume I was speaking to a receptionist. Her response was immediate. 'No', she said, this clinic is just for those who have mental health problems.
That (ME.....................she couldn't pronounce it.
) sounds physical, so the patient must go to the main hospital, not here.
To give one example: recently, I had a number of calls from someone who wanted to voice her frustration about her experience at the clinic. I asked if they had told her that they viewed her problem as psychiatric in any way. She assured me, no, they had not. However, when I listened to her tale, I really do not believe she had assessed the situation correctly. She told me the doctor let her rehearse all her difficulties without contradicting her interpretation of them as a physical illness, but she was confused by the outcome as the doctor was attempting to stealthily guide her down the psychiatric route. The above extract fits so well with her description of her appointments with the clinic. If asked outright I suspect they would deny their view as it would alienate the patients, so, in this case, I think it is the receptionist who more accurately reflects the doctors' (abnormal illness
) belief system in this case. It reminds me of those training videos for doctors and therapists we have seen by Dr Chalder and company whereby they are recommended not to challenge the patients' interpretation of their problems, so as not to spoil the therapist/patient relationship thus enabling the doctor to surreptitiously manipulate the patients' attribution of their condition.
Just to add, however, that I do know to a limited extent one of the two doctors at the clinic and I think he would be kind and supportive if he had clear and accurate direction, so I do not hold him responsible for the above
