CBT (Cognitive behavioural therapy)
is often offered as a treatment for CFS/ME and is in fact mentioned in the NICE
(National Institute for Clinical Excellence) guidelines as something that
should be offered to CFS/ME patients. This is something that seems to enrage a
lot of CFS/ME sufferers. There is some evidence that CBT can help CFS/ME, but a
lot of sufferers take it as a personal insult because apparently it implies
that CFS/ME is a mental illness. Some sufferers are so adamant about it that
not so long ago someone doing research into the Lightning Process (often
considered to be like CBT to the uneducated) to treat CFS/ME received death
threats. Now to me that is just madness. I appreciate the CFS/ME sufferers want
a cure but any research is a step in the right direction and the Lightning
process is not just CBT and so what if it was? (I will talk more about the
Lightning Process another time). Just because you don’t agree with the research
being done is not an excuse for death threats. Some ME/CFS sufferers are so
wrapped up in getting a ‘cure’ that they seem to forget there are hundreds of
equally serious other illnesses out there that don’t have cures either.
No health professional has ever
said to me that they think CFS/ME is a mental illness. I know there are doctors
and other healthcare professionals who think that CFS/ME is depression and they
are wrong, but that is not related to CBT being offered to CFS/ME sufferers. Also,
whilst I understand that people object to CFS/ME being classed as a mental
illness, why are so many objections so vehement? Mental illness in my opinion
is a much worse thing to suffer from that CFS/ME, or certainly depression is. I’ve had both and if I had to choose, I would take the CFS/ME over depression
any day. Yes CFS/ME is horrible, but depression destroys you in a way CFS/ME
never can unless it causes you to develop depression. So it makes me angry when
people are so defiant about CFS/ME not being a mental illness. No, it’s not and
be bloody grateful it isn’t. These objections just make me think that people
don’t understand the seriousness of mental illness, as if it is somehow lesser
that CFS/ME. Well it isn’t, it is a set of illnesses of equal importance many
of which also have no cure
Now, why are CFS/ME patients offered
CBT if it’s not a mental illness? An excellent question. Well, CBT is not just
for treating depression and mental health problems, but I’ll come back to that.
Someone who suffers abuse can get help from CBT, and being abused isn’t mental
illness. Someone who is in a traumatic accident can get help from CBT and
someone with a chronic (long term) physical illness of any kind can get help
from CBT. None of these are mental illnesses, what they all have in common is
that they could all cause someone to develop a mental illness. Illnesses such
as depression, anxiety or PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). CFS/ME
sufferers fit neatly into this last category and it is exactly for this reason
that they are offered CBT, as depression and CFS/ME together must be horrific.
In fact CBT in my opinion is for
everyone. Very few people really understand how our minds work without help. And
the vast majority of people think we don’t have any control over them. The
benefits of doing CBT are huge and give us a much better understanding of why
we feel certain things and how to deal with it. I cannot tell you how useful
CBT has been throughout my adult life, when just applied to ordinary everyday
situations. It constantly saddens me how many people I come across who believe
their lives are ruled by their emotions and the people/factors that cause them.
A bit of CBT could change so many people’s lives and show them how to live
happily without letting their emotions control them. This is a dream that I
realise has no future, as there is never going to be time that I can foresee
where all people are automatically offered and given CBT. However, CFS/ME sufferers are offered it and
it is a shame that most aren’t grateful for this help. Many people have no idea
who difficult it is to get CBT on the NHS even if you have depression. One day I hope there will be cure, but until
that happens I will take all the help I can get, including CBT, to so that I can live relatively
happily with this illness.
