Coping with chronic fatigue

Coping with chronic fatigue

Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Vol. 41, No. 3, p, 245, 1996 Copyright ~ 1996ElsevierScience Inc. All rights reserved. 0022-3999/96 $15.00 • .00 ...

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Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Vol. 41, No. 3, p, 245, 1996

Copyright ~ 1996ElsevierScience Inc. All rights reserved. 0022-3999/96 $15.00 • .00

ELSEVIER

BOOK REVIEW Coping with Chronic Fatigue TRUDIE CHALDER. Sheldon Press, 1995. £4.99.70 pp. CHRONIC TROUBLESOMEFATIGUEaffects 20% of the general population. This is a self-help book for those people. It is based on the author's extensive clinical experience treating patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. Despite being a small book, it manages to include almost all of the clinical techniques used by those who have adapted cognitive behavior to the treatment of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. The six chapters cover the following topics: what is fatigue?; introducing cognitive behavior therapy; self-management; improving your sleep; negative thinking and setbacks, and maintaining improvement. All of these sections are clearly written, up-to-date and based on strategies shown to be effective in patients with severe chronic fatigue. The most important message contained in the book is that the person with fatigue can, once treatable disease causes have been excluded, do a great deal themselves to overcome the problem. The difficulty with the books written to help patients overcome chronic problems with multiple causes is that a large range of topics have to be covered. Initial experience of giving this book to patients suggests that it may be too scholarly and dense for some, but that most will be able to extract something useful from it. To her considerable credit, the author has undertaken a study to evaluate this book's effectiveness in primary care patients suffering from fatigue. The results were encouraging. 1 suspect it will be most valuable when used as an adjuvant to a brief psychological intervention. My own opinion is this is a useful book, not only for patients, but also for clinicians. I strongly recommend it. MICHAEL SHARPE University Department of Psychiatry Warneford Hospital 0022-3999(95)0055 I-X

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