Can people with ME be mentally ill?

"Imagine this.

You are a doctor. You have a patient who has a delusional belief that the only way he can cure an illness from which he suffers is by drinking huge quantities of water. Quantities so huge that he is endangering his own life. It may sound implausible but water intoxication can kill you. Remember Barbara Nash, the quack nutritionist, who nearly killed a patient with the Amazing Hydration Diet?

Your patient refuses to stop drinking water so you arrange an urgent compulsory psychiatric admission so that he can be looked after in a place of safety whilst his delusion is treated. Few would disagree with that course of action. Sadly, amongst the few who do disagree, are the militant wing of the ME brigade. For this is a real case.

Writing under the pseudonym of Dr Speedy, a doctor who is himself currently bedridden with ME, highlights the case of Brian Nicholson who is currently detained on a mental health ward with precisely this problem. A short digression to say that, whatever your views on ME may be, “Dr Speedy” writes an excellent and at times very funny blog about his own experiences. Well worth a read.

But back to Brian Nicholson. Dr Speedy says:
Though of no danger to society Brian has now joined the ranks of those patients whose human rights are flouted and abused. Brian is now imprisoned in a secure psychiatric unit because he has ME. The psychiatrists treating him consider this to be "an abnormal illness belief".

Dr Speedy

Dr Speedy has let himself get carried away. Brian Nicholson has not been sectioned because he has ME. He has been sectioned because, in a delusional state, he is behaving in a way in which he is likely to kill himself. He is a danger to himself. He is drinking vast quantities of fluid to try to control his POTS. POTS is a well recognised medical condition of uncertain aetiology. It is not just found in people who think they have ME. Brian’s delusional state leads him to believe that he can control his POTS by drinking vast quantities of fluid.

Sadly, you cannot have a rational discussion about such an issue with the militant ME brigade. They have sprung into action. There is already a Facebook site run by a teacher who considers that being a teacher gives him as much knowledge and experience as a psychiatric nurse." by http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/ under:

Can people with ME be mentally ill?