Article: ME patients misunderstand, Andresen, 2018

Indigophoton

Indigophoton

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
A short article in Psychology Magazine, the Journal of the Norwegian Psychology Association, on the 'psychology of PEM'. It's the argument that psychosocial factors are the reason patients remain sick.

Via google translate,
PEM (post-exertion malaise) is the cardinal symptom that separates ME from mental disorders and contiguous somatic diseases. PEM involves prolonged and painful fatigue attacks. PEM is not intimate but biologically anchored as it can be measured at lactate level in a two-day cycle test (spirometry).

It is well known that anxiety, depression and stress help prolong and exacerbate any symptom of somatic disease

Although most ME patients are aware that activities can punish PEM, they still can not afford to be left alone.
...
As a psychologist at the CFS / ME Center at Aker Hospital, I met many patients ... They are often "yes-people", ambitious, perfectionists or altruists.They continue to work in low employment rates or to be the one who sets up for everyone around. They take good care of good days or stand in the kiosk for a good night's sleep. They do it even if it is punished by flu pain or days of bedtime and pain.

Mastering and rehabilitation stays therefore focus much on their education towards increased awareness of what patients can do to break a destructive activity pattern with PEM. This is absolutely crucial in order to be better and healthy.Some patients may also benefit from psychological and cognitive behavioral therapy. Not for anxiety, depression or stress, but because they are unable to stay again. They are so keen and motivated to get rid of it.
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Norwegian site here, English translation here.
 
This is written by a psychologist called Nina Andresen. She had ME herself and has now recovered (I think with diets and alternative remedies).
Once in a while she writes articles claiming that the ME Association and ME-patients aren't willing to be open enough for undocumented treatments thus standing in the way of hope for recovery. ME is possible to recover from according to Andresen, but it requires a lot of hard work.

This is her second contribution in an ongoing ME-debate at the Journal of the Norwegian Psychology Association.

The first contribution from her got an excellent response from Eirik Randsborg from the Norwegian ME Association:

Feil virkelighetsforståelse
Google translation: Incorrect perception of reality

Hope must be realistic, otherwise it's a false hope. The ME association wishes to give its members as good and correct information as possible. The ME association also wants to create hope - hope that ME patients will be properly treated by healthcare, NAV and other auxiliaries. Hope that coping will make it possible to live a good life with the disease, and hope that the research will lead to relief treatment and perhaps - in the longer term - a cure.

The ME Association fully agrees that there is a need for a good support system around the ME sick, but it must be support that has proper knowledge about the disease and understanding the challenges the patients have. Health care providers that give false hope or pushing patients into more activity than they tolerate is not beneficial but harmful.
 
She also initiated a Facebookgroup for ME-patients and alternative therapies. This while she was still an employee at the ME/CFS-centre in Oslo. She does not work there anymore.

She seems very angry with the patient organisation and patients that are sceptical of undocumented treatments and she has a rather aggressive tone.
 
What a load of non-factual nonsense.

The claims about perfectionism/ambition etc are contradicted by the equivocal evidence which has tried to identify such factors. Likewise, a majority of patients do not suffer with ongoing stress/anxiety/depression so the lack of sensitivity of this association suggests it is not a prolonging factor for a majority of patients.

Likewise the idea that boom-bust is a prolonging factor is not found in studies utilising actigraphy.

The author is confusing boom-bust with PEM, likely because the author has never bothered to actually listen to patients and try to understand.
 
Woolie said:
I don't know about you, but I'm as sloppy as hell and a bit of a loser. :rolleyes:
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Dear Woolie,

Must be down to you being a 'yes-person' and/or your altruistic tendencies then .. tell me it ain't so, (not that I'd believe you anyways muttering under my breath.) ;)

Yours sincerely, Nina

Wishing everyone improved health and every happiness. John :)
 
Stress means very different things to different people in my view.

Some get stressed when they have too much to do and that's when I used to thrive. Too little stress & I get bored. I find boredom incredibly stressful.

I was on a retreat a few years ago. One afternoon there was a art session. I was bored to tears and had a tension headache by the end, by which I mean when I left under the pretext of needing the loo. Everyone else loved, said it really relaxed them o_O
 
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