Re: How long????

As for the study you participated in: it sounds like they did
everything according the the ethics laid out for research with human
participants. However, it also sounds like they didn't do any more than
follow the letter of those guidelines. Had the spirit of those ethical
mandates been followed, I imagine your experience would have been
kinder. Really, I think part of their screening for participants should
have included identifying physiological causes for somatic complaints
and not including participants who had those physiological aspects. I
understand why they chose not to use your data, but not why they
included you in the first place! Now, with a study like that, even with
a screening, they will get participants who have undiagnosed
physiological causes, but that's just unavoidable, and there's really
no way a study could do more than require participants to have a
general physical check-up before beginning. Ahhh...the constraints of
money rise again!

Thanks for the story of the woman who was sent to a shrink. That's a
perfect example of what I'm concerned about! One of the ethical
requirements I work under involves trying to make sure that a client
sees a doctor if they have any somatic complaints, but there's really
very little I can do beyond requesting that they make an appointment
with someone for a checkup. Also, that simply does nothing to address
working with someone who has already been referred to me as a result of
a doctor giving up on finding physiological causes. To go to another
side of how money works in this system, I think that the woman you
described would have been able to sue someone for negligence. Then the
question becomes who can she sue? The therapist for not making her go
back to a medical system that failed her? The original doctor for
referring her rather than putting her through tests that she may not
have been able to afford? It just depends on so many factors.

I'm not in a Ph.D. program. I'm working only on a Master's...and don't
plan to continue on past that. You're right, though, that it would make
a GREAT thesis! I have a friend who just interviewed for a Ph.D.
program and has similar interests...I think I'll pitch it her way and
see what happens.

Depression and Fatigue. Goodness...that is such a confusing
relationship. Just from my own experiences, I've finally figured out
that I was depressed as a teenager, but that my experiences in college
that I labelled as a lesser form of depression were actually probably
fatigue. It's amazing what a difference it can make when you have the
right labels for experiences. Now that I have the fatigue label to
describe what I feel, I am able to address it and pull out of it
quicker. The same feeling, when all I could describe it as was
depression led to actually turning the experience into depression
because I couldn't address it correctly. I've been off and on
anti-depressants for years and none of them seemed to really help. Now,
I know why! I don't know if this paragraph made much sense...it's still
a thought I'm working on refining. :)

I see what you're saying about the mind-body connection being
emphasized to the point of trying to force MS symptoms into indications
of psychological processes...and I agree that that is a problem. On the
other hand, part of the mind-body connection that I think needs more
attention is how MS (or other) symptoms affect the mind. Most of the
time, most of us are able to adjust around new symptoms, but sometimes
we all need help seeing/understanding/accepting how those symptoms
affect our views of the world and our relationships with others. Most
of the time we can figure that out with help from friends and family,
but therapy can be helpful even without psychological problems. My
favorite is working with people who have dilemnas, not problems. :)

.

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