Now I’m going to write about something very close to my heart and I’m going to offer you a new perspective for looking at CFS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or ME.

Everything I read about CFS misses such alot in the telling: Latest research looks for the ME gene or some such other research crusade into nasal infections, for example, to find the definitive cause and cure for this pernicious condition. I should really take more interest in the current trends, especially since this is my speciality…… But I find all of it lacking in one fundamental error of judgement: and that is the illusion that the mind and body have nothing to do with each other.

 I find all of it lacking in one fundamental error of judgement: and that is the illusion that the mind and body have nothing to do with each other. 

I often hear that CFS is mainly physical with psychological components and I sigh heavily.  It seems that still, sufferers and clinicians are not aware of what they are saying. And who can blame them for this perspective when our western medical system is so used to hiving off matters of the mind to the psychiatrists while leaving matters physical to the surgeons and medical scientists. No one, in their right minds and I’m quite sure everyone I’ve met with CFS IS, would want to be aligned with modern psychiatric intervention.  For all their learning, to treat mental health issues clinically is to lose the very essence of the human touch that is itself the healing force for deeply disturbed people.  Very often there is little empathy, which psychiatrist has experienced schizophrenia for example, and little understanding as to what is making a person feel mentally and emotionally unwell.  If there is understanding, it is rarely communicated.  Couple that with the financial constraints of modern medical care and these disturbing and sad histories, whilst acknowledged, do not play a part in the treatment plan for many people with these conditions.

 Everyone I’ve met so far, some way, displays this selfless interest in other people 

However, take something like CFS. Everyone I’ve met so far, some way, displays this selfless interest in other people or needs to prove themselves to others – certainly not in any ostentatious way. This would be anathema to most people with CFS. But take the mindset that I’ve just described. This is not a mental disease or disorder. But it is typical to a fairly extreme extent, in everyone I have treated with CFS. So extreme, that a person’s whole subconscious mindset is set up to serve others before the self. Insodoing, people with CFS are in everyway, validating their worth and self esteem every time they think the thought: “How can I help someone else?” or “How can I make sure I prove myself today?” These are noble values, social values, with a healthy social conscience……how can that be a mental health disorder? It is a ridiculous suggestion. Of course, it isn’t.

 This is not a mental disease or disorder 

But try a lifetime of this style of thinking, and then add a period of intense stress to it: ie: disease or stressful events. And that final straw that was just too heavy, will cause the immune system and all the body’s major functions to slow down and grind to a halt….

Could this be you? Or are you now protesting that it is a nonsense that the mind could have anything to do with this condition?

It takes real courage to do an inventory of the way you think and how much pressure you are placing on your body. It takes real courage to realise, that you’ve left your body out of the communication loop for years and years way before CFS ever developed. That’s how you’ve driven yourself so hard: ignoring messages from the body to be high achievers, socially or at work. You are people who are dependable, hard working, reliable and often social smoothers….no wonder CFS is such a terrible stigma to this segment of society. To be able to ‘do nothing’ to help yourself and others is a person with CFS’ worst nightmare! It is insupportable and shameful to you to be so helpless.

So I urge you now to take that inventory: Try answering the following questions with plenty of time…. If you know how to meditate, do it during your meditation.

• What thoughts do I wake up with first thing in the morning?
• What is the first feeling I feel?
• How did I learn to feel this way? In other words, when else did I have this feeling?
• How long ago did this feeling start?
• How was it caused?
• How much of my life today is dominated by this old feeling?
• What would it be like if I no longer had this feeling?
• What would I do with my life if I could quieten my mind?
• What am I prepared to do to change this relationship with myself?

Now your answers could be so many and varied…..but I can guarantee, if you sit with these questions quietly and answer them honestly, you’ll start to see trends that predate the onset of your condition by years…..

 It takes real courage to do an inventory of the way you think and how much pressure you are placing on your body 

Recovery from CFS takes a shift of consciousness. It involves you really understanding you are worth something whether you prove it or not.

Do not for goodness sakes stop anything physical you are doing to support your body. Your body needs every opportunity it can take to get well. Supporting the body without the mind is like trying to drive a car without an engine in it. And supporting the mind without the body, is like putting a new engine in an old car….. The two need to be worked on in conjunction. And you need to change the mindset that drives you through the pain barrier, that causes you to valiantly struggle on despite your setbacks, and that causes the boom bust cycle of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Developing two way communication between mind and body is a huge task if your habit is to ignore the messages from the body. But you can start to change it right now.