Written for students and clinicians who are new to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), this book aims to de-mystify the illness and its management by offering a detailed exploration of the role of the occupational therapist in facilitating the CFS patient?s recovery. Recognising that working with people with CFS involves all aspects of the occupational therapy process, the book demonstrates how many of the skills gained in occupational therapy training and in other area of clinical practice can be transferred to the management of CFS. Case vignettes and more in-depth studies are used throughout to illustrate the syndrome and its management and a full glossary of terms is also included.

Complete Coverage of chronic fatigue syndrome The Handbook of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome provides authoritative coverage of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). A leading group of international contributors present up-to-date information and guidance to improve the understanding, proper identification, and treatment of this debilitating disease. The handbook's comprehensive, multidisciplinary format draws on the medical, as well as mental health-related, aspects of CFS, including: History, diagnosis, and classification Phenomenology Symptomatology Assessment Treatment and intervention Pediatric and community issues Topics covered include complexity of diagnosis, social effects of chronic disorders, and a variety of treatment techniques, including phase-based therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapies, exercise therapy, and nutritional approaches. An insightful and unique resource, the Handbook of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is an enlightening book for all mental health professionals, including psychologists, social workers, and counselors, as well as medical personnel, such as nurses, physicians, and physical-occupational therapists.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a common and disabling condition characterised by fatigue, muscle pain, sleep disturbances and other physical and psychological symptoms that cause a considerable amount of distress and suffering. This book provides a practical guide for clinicians on how to treat chronic fatigue syndrome using cognitive behaviour therapy approaches. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome attempts to make sense of the illness, and describes how cognitive behavioural therapy can help patients by working with their environment, emotions, and behaviour to improve their physical condition. Topics covered include: principles of cognitive behavioural therapy assessing patients with chronic fatigue syndrome helping patients with emotional issues and other maintenance factors using cognitive behavioural therapy alongside other approaches. Aimed at practitioners, this book will provide essential guidance for cognitive behavioural therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and other clinicians who work in this rapidly expanding field.

Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) are serious, debilitating conditions that affect millions of people in the United States and around the world. ME/CFS can cause significant impairment and disability. Despite substantial efforts by researchers to better understand ME/CFS, there is no known cause or effective treatment. Diagnosing the disease remains a challenge, and patients often struggle with their illness for years before an identification is made. Some health care providers have been skeptical about the serious physiological - rather than psychological - nature of the illness. Once diagnosed, patients often complain of receiving hostility from their health care provider as well as being subjected to treatment strategies that exacerbate their symptoms. Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome proposes new diagnostic clinical criteria for ME/CFS and a new term for the illness - systemic exertion intolerance disease(SEID). According to this report, the term myalgic encephalomyelitis does not accurately describe this illness, and the term chronic fatigue syndrome can result in trivialization and stigmatization for patients afflicted with this illness. Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome stresses that SEID is a medical - not a psychiatric or psychological - illness. This report lists the major symptoms of SEID and recommends a diagnostic process.One of the report's most important conclusions is that a thorough history, physical examination, and targeted work-up are necessary and often sufficient for diagnosis. The new criteria will allow a large percentage of undiagnosed patients to receive an accurate diagnosis and appropriate care. Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome will be a valuable resource to promote the prompt diagnosis of patients with this complex, multisystem, and often devastating disorder; enhance public understanding; and provide a firm foundation for future improvements in diagnosis and treatment.

A guide for practitioners, scientists, and patients, Clinical Management of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome provides an insightful overview of current clinical management of CFS and guidelines for dealing with the disease and its compounding issues. It also provides, especially for patients, an objective framework in which they can approach the confusing psychological and physical ramifications of the disease so that they may sort through possibly misleading information on current treatments. CFS has been the focus of an increasing number of research investigators seeking to unravel the enigmatic interrelationship of immunologic, neurologic, endocrinologic, and psychologic abnormalities associated with this debilitating disorder. Because many practical issues have been underestimated by the medical community, and considerable misinformation exists regarding the appropriate evaluation and management of the CFS patient, the American Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (AACFS) held its first clinical conference to address this problem, the results of which are presented in this book. Each chapter, based on material presented at the October 1994 conference has been completely updated and revised during a peer review process, making Clinical Management of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome a useful and up-to-date guide for practitioners and scientists, as well as patients. Despite the potential of nervous system functional assessments, the diagnosis of CFS continues to be a major problem because a consensus diagnostic tool is lacking, and the monitoring of the disorder is based primarily on patient report. Moreover, dealing with the financial aspects of CFS continues to be a major problem for patients, so professionals with experience dealing with insurance companies explored this issue, as well as ways in which CFS could be considered in a broader perspective of health care, particularly focusing on governmental involvement. The chapters provide an insightful overview of current clinical management of patients and guidelines for dealing with the disease and its complicating issues. General topics of relevance covered in the book's chapters include a review of advances in basic science neurocognitive dysfunction diagnostic issues use of alternative/complementary medicine cognitive behavioral and rehabilitative therapies financial issues advances in governmental role women's issues In this book, practitioners and scientists in the field and patients living with CFS have a thorough resource on current clinical and patient management of the disease.

This title is directed primarily towards health care professionals outside of the United States. It presents the application of the model of cognitive behavioural intervention in the practice of physiotherapy and occupational therapy addressing a range of clinical problems with contributions from professionals who are specialists in their field. The book explains the psychological model and provides a rationale for applying CBT as a tool to strengthen physiotherapy and occupational therapy interventions. Case studies are integral to this book, highlighting the application of CBT, outlining the strategies, and illustrating the outcomes and boundaries of treatment.• case studies • evidence–based• interdisciplinary approach• contributed to by renowned specialists in the field

The first book written specifically on clinical applications of sleep and sleep disorder theory for occupational therapists, this book bridges the research to practice gap. Contributors share their expertise, exploring topics such as the relationship between mental health and sleep; how sleep is affected by age, or by specific conditions such as dementia or autism; and how occupational therapists can use their skills and training to improve sleep quality in patients who are suffering from pain, or trauma. This timely book is essential reading for occupational therapists and students of occupational therapy, covering all of the aspects of sleep and sleep disorders that they will find useful for practice.

A handy reference guide to living with fatigue! Medical Etiology, Assessment, and Treatment of Chronic Fatigue and Malaise: Clinical Differentiation and Intervention is the single reference source you need for vital information on the fatiguing illnesses that affect more than 800,000 Americans. Written by one of the foremost experts in the field, the book is a comprehensive guide to the debilitating, and often misunderstood, phenomenon of fatigue, examining its multiple causes and treatments. Through a detailed history of chronic fatigue and a look at the factors that influence evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment, the book gives you immediate access to the answers you—and your patients—have been searching for. Practical and easy-to-use, Medical Etiology, Assessment, and Treatment of Chronic Fatigue and Malaise: Clinical Differentiation and Intervention saves you the time and trouble of sorting through extensive research findings for the information you need on the many contexts and consequences of fatigue. The book examines how fatigue is defined and measured and how it relates to autoimmune diseases, cancer, neurological disease, and a variety of other pathologies. You’ll also get immediate access to the latest related findings in cardiovascular medicine, epidemiology, infectious diseases, endocrinology, psychology, and psychiatry that served as the basis for research and therapeutic interventions. Medical Etiology, Assessment, and Treatment of Chronic Fatigue and Malaise: Clinical Differentiation and Intervention provides valuable information on: complicating factors in the diagnosis and treatment of fatigue symptom distress and quality of life body defense factors fatigue perception and severity chronic fatigue syndrome fatigue and the environment predisposed and perpetuating factors for chronic fatiguing illnesses cytokines endocrine factors and much more! Medical Etiology, Assessment, and Treatment of Chronic Fatigue and Malaise: Clinical Differentiation and Intervention also includes tables, figures, and references. This accessible reference guide is crucial for anyone suffering the effects of this baffling disorder and for the healthcare professionals they depend on.

This practical manual comes from a nationally recognised centre for the condition and is jointly written by health professionals and their patients. They give straightforward and specifci expert advice, accompanied by real life stories, on managing different aspects of everyday life that can affect energy and they show how to put this advice into practice. They understand the way fatigue affects concentration and therefore break their guidance into easy to follow steps that can be worked through at the reader's own pace.

An important medical milestone for anyone connected with ME/CFS! Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Clinical Working Case Definition, Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols includes a clinical definition (clinical diagnostic criteria) for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). The clinical case definition was developed by an expert medical consensus panel of treating physicians, teaching faculty and world leaders in the research of ME/CFS. An expert subcommittee of Health Canada established the Terms of Reference for the consensus panel. The definition more adequately reflects the complexity of symptoms of a given patient’s pathogenesis and should establish ME/CFS as a distinct medical entity and help distinguish it from overlapping medical conditions in the absence of a definitive laboratory test. “The clinical definition will enable clinicians to make an early diagnosis which may assist in lessening the impact of ME/CFS in some patients,” said Dr. Bruce M. Carruthers, lead author of the definition. “It will reduce the expensive problem of patients being sent to many specialists before being diagnosed and will allow patients to receive appropriate treatments in a timely fashion.” The panel's clinical case definition determines that more of the prominent symptoms are compulsory and symptoms that share a common region of pathogenesis are grouped together for clarity. In addition to severe prolonged fatigue, the definition includes the hallmark symptoms of post-exertional malaise and/or fatigue, sleep dysfunction, pain, two or more of the given neurological/cognitive manifestations, and at least one of the given symptoms from two of the categories of autonomic, neuroendocrine, and immune manifestations. Diagnostic exclusions and common co-morbid entities are also given. The special issue of the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome also includes a discussion of prominent symptoms, clinical practice diagnostic and treatment guidelines based on the best available research evidence, and an overview of available research on ME/CFS. The expert panel of 11 physicians—who have diagnosed and/or treated more than 20,000 ME/CFS patients between them—has developed a clinical case definition that provides a flexible conceptual framework based on the characteristic patterns of symptom clusters, which reflect specific areas of pathogenesis. The expert subcommittee of Health Canada selected the expert consensus panel. Authors include: Dr. Bruce M. Carruthers, lead author of the consensus document; co-author of the draft of the original version of the ME/CFS clinical definition, diagnostic and treatment protocols document; internal medicine, Galiano, British Columbia. Dr. Anil Kumar Jain, co-author of the draft the original version of the ME/CFS consensus document, affiliate of Ottawa Hospital, Ontario. Dr. Kenny L. De Meirleir, Professor Physiology and Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium; ME/CFS researcher and clinician; organizer of the World Congress on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Related Disorders; a board member of the American Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; and co-editor of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Critical Reviews and Clinical Advances (Haworth) Dr. Daniel L. Peterson, affiliate of the Sierra Internal Medicine Associates in Incline Village, Nevada; ME/CFS researcher and clinician; a board member of the American Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; and member of the International Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study Group Dr. Nancy G. Klimas, Clinical Professor of Medicine in Microbiology/Immunology/Allergy and Psychology, University of Miami School of Medicine; ME/CFS researcher and clinician; a board member of the American Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; and member of the federal CFS Coordinating Committee Dr. A. Martin Lerner, staff physician at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan; Clinical professor and former chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Wayne State University's School of Medicine; and ME/CFS researcher and clinician Dr. Alison C. Bested, haematological pathologist; former head of the Division of Haematology and Immunology at the Toronto East General and Orthopaedic Hospital; affiliate of the Environmental Health Clinic and Sunnybrook & Women's College Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario; ME/CFS researcher and clinician Dr. Pierre Flor-Henry, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of Alberta; Clinical Director of General Psychiatry and Director of the Clinical Diagnostic and Research Centre, both based at Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; ME/CFS brain researcher Dr. Pradip Joshi, internal medicine, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, Canada Dr. A. C. Peter Powles, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Health Science, McMasters University, Hamilton; Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto; Chief of Medicine and Sleep Disorders Consultant, St. Joseph's Health Centre, Toronto; Sleep Disorder Consultant at the Sleep Disorder Clinic at St. Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, and Central West Sleep Affiliation, Paris, Ontario Dr. Jeffrey A. Sherkey, family medicine, affiliate of the University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario; and diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome nearly 10 years ago Marjorie I. van de Sande, Consensus Coordinator; and Director of Education for the National ME/FM Action Network, Canada Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Clinical Working Case Definition, Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols also addresses diagnostic exclusions and common co-morbid entities. This groundbreaking book is must reading for anyone connected with the disease—personally or professionally.