(Originally from 2000, ProHealth article from 2011, but timeless) Dr David Bell reports on a psychiatric misdiagnosis in boy with ME/CFS A couple of extracts where he reflects on the case: ----- Doctors like to solve problems. They like to make people well. Nothing makes them happier. Sadly, when they fail, their universal fallback position amounts to blaming the patient for his or her own disease. Even when the evidence points in the opposite direction, doctors frequently come up with psychological diagnoses in the absence of clear answers. ---- In my view, psychological diagnoses need to be made with the same specificity and accuracy as medical diagnoses. It is not enough to pull a psychological diagnosis out of your hat if you are stumped. It is necessary to be a good doctor. Of course, the attribution of the psyche to the cause of physical illness is hardly a new phenomenon, especially in children. ----- I am not going to debate the legitimacy of Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy. It exists, a sad commentary on modern society. But the diagnosis of Munchausen’s is made by obtaining absolute proof of a parent inflicting conscious and active harm on their child. Frequently, hospital administrators who suspect a parent of Munchausen’s will install a videotape in the room of the young patient in order to acquire irrefutable evidence of a parent committing such harm. In Arnie’s case, neither the court nor school officials bothered to offer proof of his mother’s intent to cause harm, or even actual harm, no doubt because they had no proof. ----- Dr. Bell’s book Faces of CFS - Case Histories of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, published in August, 2000 can be downloaded for free from: mecfs-vic.org.au/sites/mecfs-vic.org.au/files/Resource-BellFacesOfCFS.pdf prohealth/library/showarticle.cfm?libid=16108
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 22:36:43 +0000