Comment on: “Abnormal” illness behaviour in chronic fatigue syndrome and multiple sclerosis. [BMJ. 1995]
EDITOR,-Over the past few years I have seen a growing number of patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome who have been told by psychiatrists and psychologists that abnormal illness behaviour and psychosocial factors are the main factors perpetuating their disability. Few patients have accepted or believed this explanation; neither have I. The ME Association now has evidence that the fashionable theory of abnormal illness behaviour linked to somatisation is being used by several agencies as a convenient excuse for turning down applications for financial benefits or for putting pressure on vulnerable patients to undergo speculative “rehabilitation” programmes, which they may be reluctant to participate in.
Although Peter Trigwell and colleagues conclude that patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome and multiple sclerosis have virtually identical patterns of illness behaviour without any form of shared aetiology, their study suggests that the two conditions may have more in common than just central fatigue and uncertainty about long term prognosis.’ When DeLuca et al examined patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome, patients with multiple sclerosis, and healthy controls using a paced auditory serial addition test (a method of assessing processing of complex auditory information) they found that both groups of patients scored significantly below the controls, indicating similar difficulties with tasks that require simultaneous processing of cognitive information.2
You can read the full comment here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2551397/pdf/bmj00615-0064a.pdf
Source: Shepherd C. Illness behaviour in the chronic fatigue syndrome and multiple sclerosis. Disentangling common characteristics is not so easy. BMJ. 1995 Oct 21;311(7012):1093. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2551397/pdf/bmj00615-0064a.pdf