# CBT for CFS



## poet (Nov 17, 2003)

[Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as a treatment for CFS][Article in Swedish]Author: d'Elia G.Affiliation: Center for kognitiv psykoterapi i Linkoping.mailto:gidelia###telia.comNLM Citation: PMID: 14986443The cognitive approach to the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome (CSF)is based on a multifactor etiological hypothesis, i.e. inaccurate beliefsand attitudes to the illness interact with pathophysiological processes,ineffective coping behaviours, negative states of mood, social problem,to perpetuate the illness. Patients suffering from CFS are supposed to behypervigilant to somatic sensations and to interpret them as signs ofimpending physical catastrophe.The aim of the this paper is to describe the clinical implementation ofprinciples of cognitive therapy in the treatment of CFS. Basic to thetreatment approach is a collaborative, listening and empathic attitude,sensitive to the patient's personal beliefs and potential threats toself-esteem. The aim is to develop more useful, functional, formulationsof the illness.The patient and the therapist work together to look at how the patientthinks about herself/himself and the illness, detect unhelpful attitudes,thoughts and mental images about the illness, and to make them accessibleto Socratic reasoning. Graded behavioural interventions are planned inorder to disconfirm unhelpful beliefs and reverse the spiral oftiredness, demoralization and reduced activity. The treatment isstructured according to the general principles of cognitive therapy. --------------------------------------------- Too much mail? Try a digest version. See http://www.co-cure.org/digest.htm Send posts to mailto:CO-CURE###listserv.nodak.edu Join or leave the list at http://www.co-cure.org/sub.htm ---------------------------------------------


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