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Stress in the Workplace
ME / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Depression &  Panic

Depression and Music Therapy

 

Examines the power of using popular music, something people already listen to, as a way for people to express their feelings.  Includes examples of therapeutic messages in popular music as well as original music by Freudian Slip, therapeutic rock band.

European Agency for Safety & Health at Work
Research on Work-related Stress
by Tom Cox, Amanda Griffiths and Eusebio Rial-Gonzalez (2000)

Talk by Dr Bill Mitchell May 2001

ME/CFS - BBC News OnLine, 11:43, Friday 11 January 2002

"Doctors must recognise M.E. as a serious illness and bring it "in from the wilderness", experts have said.
The debilitating condition, otherwise known as chronic fatigue syndrome, has provoked intense controversy, with some doctors arguing that it is not a bona fide clinical illness.
The report confirms that CFS/ME is a debilitating and distressing condition affecting many people
It was disparagingly referred to as "yuppie flu" and some people with the condition received little help, being told simply to pull themselves together.
But a report compiled for the Chief Medical Officer for England Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, says that it should be classed as a chronic condition with long term effects on health alongside other illnesses such as multiple sclerosis and motor neurone disease.
Early recognition, treatment guidelines and better research are all key to improving the management of this condition, the report said.

Its recommendations include:
Patients must be diagnosed earlier and given better access to treatment
A programme of research on almost all aspects of M.E. is required
Health service commissioning must ensure that local provision for M.E. patients is explicitly planned and properly resourced
The education and training of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals should include CFS/ME
People who are so severely affected that their disability renders them housebound should have their specific needs met through appropriate domiciliary services

M.E. affects up to four people per 1,000 in the population.
It most commonly affects those aged between 20 and the mid-40s.
Children who develop the condition tend to do so between 13 and 15.
More women than men are affected.

There has been some controversy over areas of the report, including the naming of the condition.
Clinicians prefer chronic fatigue syndrome, whereas patient groups term it M.E.
The reports authors say it should be known as CFS/ME.

Sir Liam said: "On the whole, it has been a disease in the wilderness.
"The report confirms that CFS/ME is a debilitating and distressing condition affecting many people.
"The causes of CFS/ME are not fully understood. The working group report is a sound basis from which we can start to make improvements in the care and treatment of people with CFS/ME."

Different opinions
Professor Allen Hutchinson, chair of the CFS/ME Independent Working Group which wrote the report, said: "We have achieved agreement on many aspects of care for people with CFS/ME, even though some differences of opinion remain over the best ways of managing the illness.
"The reports recommendations propose a number of useful strategies for improving care for individuals and for improving NHS services."

The charity Action for M.E. welcomed the report as a milestone.
Chief executive Chris Clark said: "The failure to take M.E. seriously has blighted the lives of thousands of desperately ill people - as the report itself says 'inaction due to ignorance or disbelief in the condition is not excusable'.
"We urge the Government to act on the report's recommendations, channelling resources into the NHS that have been scandalously lacking in the past."