Christine Standing. 1-02-2011:
What’s in a name? Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME); Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS); and ‘bio-social illness’.
This is a personal account of a confusing and dangerous phenomenon.
That is, the overlap of certain categories of illness, and the subsequent reasons for specific diagnoses. In 1959, E.D. Acheson an early investigator of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) wrote: "The wisdom of naming a disorder, the nature of which cannot at present be proved, and which may be due to more than one agent, is debatable.”
We are now in 2011 and I am going to consider some modern effects of the naming of this disorder in the context of UK Welfare Reform.
It has been known variously as ME; ME/CFS and CFS/ME and these terms have often been used interchangeably. Now, a new classification of ‘bio-social illness’ is clouding the already muddy waters.
However, this ad hoc change is not in keeping with World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Diseases (ICDs) from which diagnoses and treatments follow. Read more>>
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