[.ca] Chronic Fatigue and its Syndromes (ISBN 0192630466)

Wessely Has Caused Untold Damaged To CFS Patients:
I've suffered from CFS for over four years since a sudden onset triggered by influenza. Other than severe chronic fatigue I experience immunological defects including constant flu-like symptoms and feeling extremely frail and ill, sore throat, inability to control infection leading to constant periodontal disease and recurrent viral and fungal infections and extremely heightened allergic response. I also suffer from frightening deficiencies in cognitive ability (loss of mathematical ability, I mix up words, cannot remember simple phrases I want to use, dreadful concentration, etc), severe insomnia, severe depression, nausea, no circadian rhythm, pins and needles and numbness in my arms after walking short distances, intense sensitivity to sound and light (combined with cognitive defects this leaves me unable to even watch TV or listen to music), terrible digestion, stomach pains, muscle pain, headaches, and many more symptoms. I feel as if I've been poisoned or brain damaged by a virus. It is devestating enough to suffer this from CFS (an umbrella term which may represent more than one disease) without the nightmare being compounded by Dr. Wessely's theories of psychosomatic disease. Here is a qoute from Professor Wessely: "The description given by a leading gastro-enterologist at the Mayo clinic remains accurate. 'the average doctor will see they are neurotic and he will often be disgusted with them.'": Wessely S : Chronic fatigue and myalgia syndromes", in N. Sartorius et al (eds), 'Psychological Disorders in General Medical Settings', publ. Hogrefe & Huber, 1990. The qoute can be found on this website: \olocal website\c ... ... I only give his book one star because I cannot give it zero, infact I'd rather give him a negative score.

Misleading CFS research by Wessley:
In doing some research on CFS I ran across some information that counters assertions made by Wessely, et al. From the Handbook on Human Performance, in the chapter on CFS and performance where it cites the results of the Sussex and Glasgow studies: "There was clear evidence of slower motor performance, increased visual sensitivity, and memory defects in the CFS group."; "It should be noted that CFS cannot be explained either directly or in terms of psychiatric disorder nor in terms of a psychological reaction to physical disease."; "Results showed that none of the performance impairments could be attributed to psychopathology."; "The CFS subjects were slower on a motor task, and performed attention tasks, logical reasoning, and semantic memory tasks more slowly and less accurately. These effects were obtained on both occasions which shows that the performance impairments associated with CFS are reliable over time."; "These results confirm the general view obtained from the Sussex and Glasgow studies and show that the performance impairments observed in CFS generalize to different populations and may be detected using different methodologies." From Dr. Bell's book, The Dr's Gude to CFS": "CFS by design resembles psychiatric diagnoses more than traditionally defined medical disorders because it represents descriptive phemomenology" (Krupp). That is to say, a psychiatric diagnosis is suggested whenever description replaces technological measurements."; "In the past, physicians have assumed that the fatigue of CFIDS is related to depression, and one characteristic of the fatigue of depression is that it improves with exercise. Thus physicans may have been recommending that patients take a brisk walk around the block every day or maybe take up jogging. Patients with primary depression may do well with this regimen, but patients with CFIDS stare at their physicians with a look of disbelief. Many try it only to find that it worsens their symptoms. To the patient, the symptom worsening confirms two things: 1.) that the physician has absolutely no idea of what he or she is talking about, and 2.) that the illness is not primary depression."; "There is a simple way to prove that CFIDS is not somatization. With somatization, there may be numerous variable symptoms, but they are random. In CFIDS, the symptoms are not random, they form a specific pattern." Wessley has a distinct bias which is apparently not shared by most of the top CFS docs and researchers. Maybe that is why he fudges his title.... rather rather than just using CFS in the title.

An excellent resource for people who value empirical data:
This is an excellent book! The researchers essentially examined every study ever conducted on CFS and related disorders and concluded that there is no merit to these diagnoses. One of the most interesting, yet not surprising, findings is that the largest predictor for poor prognosis is being part of a CFS support group. That is, people who belong to CFS support groups do not get better. Why? Because people who claim to have CFS and related syndromes are heavily invested in remaining in a sick role. Studies have shown that CFS is merely a manifestation of depression and that CFS complaints dissipate if you utilize therapy or anti-depressants that target depression. The angry reviews of this book are amusing. This is the only book that has conducted a thorough, empirical study on the phenomenon. It's not surprising that people who claim to have CFS would be upset by the results. The authors of this book had no incentive to find the results that they did and they do not take a side in the debate. They merely present a voluminous amount of data that simply doesn't support the diagnosis. Don't be mad at the bearers of bad news. Every person who works in the mental health field should own this book, it's an excellent resource.