Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Single Case Study

Dolphin

Dolphin

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http://connect.springerpub.com/content/sgrjcp/11/2/127

Case Ceport

Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Single Case Study
  • Bertagnolli, Andrew
  • Morris, Susan
Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy

Vol 11 Issue 2

DOI: 10.1891/0889-8391.11.2.127




Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy
Volume 11, Issue 2


Abstract
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a disorder characterized by disabling fatigue often causing a reduction in daily activities and depressed mood. Individuals struggling with CFS have been noted to have maladaptive automatic thoughts that interfere with efforts to return to a satisfying lifestyle. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to be an effective treatment in changing maladaptive cognitions. A treatment package applying CBT techniques to the maladaptive thoughts associated with CFS was developed for these patients. This case-study examines the effectiveness of a CBT group intervention with a 39 year old Caucasian woman diagnosed with CFS for 3 years. Presented is a CBT conceptualization of CFS and a detailed case formulation delineating some disease specific cognitions. The patient discussed showed improvements in measures of psychological distress, perceived stress and depression. Although no change was noted in levels of reported fatigue, the patient reported fewer symptoms of depression, increased activity tolerance and improved quality of life after participation in group.
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Wow. A leading entry in the How many wrongs can be packed into a single abstract competition.

CFS = fatigue
maladaptive thoughts assumed proven
claims CBT is a proven effective therapy
no change in fatigue (surely the primary outcome, given they define CFS as fatigue)
self-report outcomes
n = 1

Just for starters.

Why is this crap even published?
 
This in a nutshell, to link to another thread debate, sums up how CFS has been treated , which is not that it has a serious biological basis. It’s all the patients fault - they’re not sick or seriously mentally ill, just thinking wrongly, with a depressed mood and a “satisfying life” can be returned to by thinking better and doing more with a therapist.
It also shows the issue with how the UK psychologists rebranded CFS once they got their mitts on it, abandon Fukuda many symptoms illness and make it tiredness and low mood/anxiety.
 
Sean said:
Wow. A leading entry in the How many wrongs can be packed into a single abstract competition.

CFS = fatigue
maladaptive thoughts assumed proven
claims CBT is a proven effective therapy
no change in fatigue (surely the primary outcome, given they define CFS as fatigue)
self-report outcomes
n = 1

Just for starters.

Why is this crap even published?
Click to expand...

When I see these various works of fiction I also pause to wonder -- How do they ever get funded?
And how do they justify doing so?
 
Snowdrop said:
When I see these various works of fiction I also pause to wonder -- How do they ever get funded?
And how do they justify doing so?
Click to expand...

Prolonged psychosomatic illness is medicine's philosopher's stone. There is evidence for acute events in alarming situations, but not detached from an actual traumatic event and leading to prolonged illness. I think it's an obsession for many, they badly want to be the one who will finally make the case that this exists. And we are the easiest, most defenseless patient population out there where they can operate without ethics or even genuine oversight. Failure is not a deterrent, it just serves to prove that the patients failed, not the model.

It's frankly alarming to see this attitude hold so much sway with medical professionals. There is a critical element missing from physicians' training for these ideas to be encouraged and promoted as serious areas of scientific research.

As for those who fund this, they most likely see the potential of dramatic savings if they can punt away many patients away from expensive medical care toward the black hole of pseudoscientific therapies.
 
I am always inclined to believe that money has a starring role in most of what goes on (and goes wrong) in the world. Although that statement is perhaps rather vague and overly general.

I'm hoping that within and outside this community there will be pressure brought to bear forcing discussions on what exactly can be claimed as solid robust research findings and what methodological flaws are rife within the system presently.

In other words, in their search for the philosopher's stone we will have forced them to up their game and the absence of evidence will prove just that -- the absence of evidence of their childish theories.

This is my hope. At least it helps keep me going.
 
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