(not a recommendation) What it’s like to live with chronic fatigue and depression

As retweeted by AfME

some bits are good, but
"
Action for ME continue to say that having a well informed GP to assist with both depression and ME is important. Having appropriate and different treatments are vital, so that the mental health treatments don’t make the neurological side of ME worse.

Dr Natasha Bijlani, Consultant Psychiatrist at the Priory Hospital Roehampton agrees. She tells Metro.co.uk: ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME) is a very debilitating, long term condition with a fluctuating course that results in extreme physical fatigue to the extent that sufferers struggle to even get out of bed, let alone cope with the most basic every day tasks.

‘Not surprisingly then, this can tremendously impact on mental health, with people becoming depressed and developing low self esteem and confidence.

‘The first step in coping with any condition like CFS (ME) that is unlikely to resolve quickly is to accept the diagnosis and then to try to manage fluctuating symptoms, following medical advice. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has a very good evidence base for managing the negative psychological aspects of any condition, and especially ME.’"

https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/10/what-its-like-to-live-with-chronic-fatigue-and-depression-8269651/

 

followed by this tweet:




eta: too little too late.

 

I don't know. In isolation I think that's okay.

There are so many good reasons to be annoyed with Action for ME, but it's worth avoiding being too critical when their tweets seem okay to me.

 

Hmm. Some of the article is OK, but I'm concerned when they include people who say they are tired all the time, or running helps their depression or they have set themselves up as a wellness guru. I wish people who write articles like this would make sure the diagnoses are accurate before they include them as examples.

 

This confuses low self-esteem with grief. Medical professionals cannot tell the difference between illness and emotions because they are not magical fairy beings who can read minds. This needs to stop, they are not acknowledging the limits of their abilities, in fact seem to have great confidence in something that is impossible to do with current technology.

 

Reframing horrendous life situations does not help. I am doubtful CBT acutally helps. What about long term results?

Not sure if this is an urban myth; was told this in college yonks ago. An elderly lady told her doctor there were thousands of spiders in her house. She was "obviously crazy", and was put in a psych ward. Someone went to her house to get something for her, and found.....thousands of spiders in her house!

 

I can't vouch for the accuracy of that anecdote but I do know that kind of stuff happens enough to have a name; When a patient's account of true but odd/implausible events are dismissed as a sign of mental illness it's known as 'The Martha Mitchell Effect'. It's named after the wife of a Republican senator who found out the truth about the Watergate scandal early on but was labelled as mentally ill when she spoke out about it. This Wikipedia article explains it better than me though.

 

Very frequent, this Martha Mithcell Effect. Thank you @fivetowns.