Context: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a serious and disabling illness that affects 0.2–0.7% of the population. It (conservatively) costs the Australian community $500m per annum. Patients often encounter ignorance and even prejudice from medical practitioners, friends and families. Because many patients will be referred to psychiatrists, it is imperative that the profession has a sound understanding of the condition, so that no further harm will befall patients through inappropriate diagnoses and treatments.
Objectives: The key objectives are to summarise the latest research, help psychiatrists differentiate CFS from psychiatric disorders and enable psychiatrists to improve their clinical management of CFS patients.
The role of infection, the immune, endocrine and central nervous systems, epidemiology, symptoms and current diagnostic criteria will be included. How to differentiate CFS from psychiatric disorders and management issues will be covered. Participants will also hear direct testimony from CFS sufferers to enable greater understanding of the condition.
Key messages: CFS is a serious disabling condition.
CFS is a disorder with multiple systemic abnormalities.
CFS is not a psychiatric disorder.
Psychiatrists have a role to play in CFS, but not without up to date knowledge of the condition.
Conclusion: CFS is a complex multisystem illness that has eluded easy answers. When there is no reliable diagnostic test, diseases such as CFS can be misunderstood, for eg, multiple sclerosis was once called hysterical paralysis. The patient, the doctor who believes the illness is real, the researcher – all have a problem with credibility. We need to move from scepticism to science.
