Handbook of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

by Leonard A. Jason, Patricia A. Fennell, Renee R. Taylor

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.

Hardcover

First published June 26, 2003

About the author

Leonard A. Jason is a professor of psychology at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, where he also directs the Center for Community Research. His chief professional interests include the study of chronic fatigue syndrome, smoking, smoking cessation, and Oxford House recovery homes for substance abuse. Jason's interest in chronic fatigue syndrome began when he was diagnosed with the condition in 1990 after having mononucleosis.

Jason is a former president of the Division of Community Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA) and a past editor of The Community Psychologist. Jason has edited or written 23 books, and he has published 541 articles and 77 book chapters on CFS, recovery homes, the prevention of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug abuse, media interventions and program evaluation. He has served on 83 Thesis Committees (of which he chaired 57), and 70 Dissertation Committees (of which he chaired 36). He has served on the editorial boards of ten psychological journals. Jason has served on review committees of the National Institutes of Health, and he has received over $26,000,000 in federal research grants. He was also a board member and vice-president for an advocacy group called International Association of CFS/ME.

He is a member the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee. In 1999, Jason published an epidemiological study of chronic fatigue syndrome among United States adults. Jason helped organize two major American Psychological Association sponsored conferences on research methods for community psychology and recently co-edited a book on this topic.

Jason has served on the editorial boards of journals including:
-Prevention in Human Services, 1986-1995; renamed Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community, 1996–present.
-Journal of Community Psychology, 1983-1986, 2007–present.
-The Journal of Primary Prevention, 1983-1986. Appointed Associate Editor, 1986-2007.
-Special Services in the Schools; renamed Journal of Applied School Psychology 1984-2008.

Jason received the 1997 Distinguished Contributions to Theory and Research Award and the 2007 Special Contribution to Public Policy award of the Society for Community Research and Action. He was presented the 1997 CFIDS Support Network ACTION Champion Award by the Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome Association of America.

He received the Dutch ME Foundation International ME Award in 2003. He has been awarded three media awards from the APA.

Reviews

[Darla Stokes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my toothbrushing book: I read it over the course of a month or more, a couple of pages every time I brushed my teeth.

I wish I'd taken notes while reading. Instead, I'd periodically rant to my husband about the latest chapter.

This book came out in 2003, two years after I was diagnosed with CFS. So it's unsurprising that a lot of the information is dated. Each chapter is written by a different author. So it's unsurprising that the tone of the book is very uneven.

The best, most helpful chapters I found were near the beginning of the book. One part explained how to distinguish between CFS fatigue and fatigue due to clinical depression, which I found very useful. Another chapter I found fascinating was by a physician who specialized in treating CFS. He pointed out the difference between sudden-onset and gradual-onset chronic fatigue and claimed that he was able to find other causes in all his gradual-onset cases.

I was surprised by the number of studies cited throughout the chapters, and discouraged but unsurprised by the inconclusive results. It really emphasized the difficulty of studying an often-poorly defined syndrome. When a study resulted in a small number of complete cures and the vast majority with no observable effect, it seems reasonable to conclude that those patients who were cured had something else going on than the others.

And then there were the chapters that infuriated me. These were the chapters claiming that patients with CFS were malingering; that the best treatment was to brainwash us into believing we weren't ill; and the one outlining the infamous PACE study. There was advice to discourage patients from joining support groups, because unlike support groups for any other disease or condition, CFS sufferers would just reinforce each other's wrong-think.

At the very least, it did explain why I've encountered such abysmal attitudes from health care professionals.