By Rachel Evans
In Queensland, a 14 year-old woman (she cannot be named because she is under the "protection" of the Department of Family Services) who was diagnosed last year with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) was later placed in state custody while seeking treatment for her illness. She was placed against her and her mother's will. According to Peter Evans, president of the Queensland Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Society, she is undergoing treatment which, given her condition, is more accurately described as torture.
CFS sufferers have been waging a battle against medical practitioners to get CFS recognised as a physiological, not a psychological, illness ever since it gained prominence in the 1980s. Despite evidence to the contrary, most Australian doctors and psychiatrists characterise the illness as psychological because they diagnose one of CFS's major symptoms, endless fatigue, as depression, not as a physical disorder. Sufferers, they argue, need counselling.
The dangers in this view are highlighted by the young woman's case. She has severe CFS and is unable to stand or walk unassisted, or to sit upright for prolonged periods. She requires sleep during the day and is not able to feed or wash herself. Obviously, she has also been unable to go to school.
It was when she was taken to a hospital during a severe bout of her illness that doctors used Mental Health Act powers to place her in a psychiatric ward. There she was subjected to forced physical rehabilitation to "challenge" her "belief system". This included attempting to keep her upright for 14 hours a day, full schooling, and being forced to cook and clean for herself.
The young woman has been screaming with the pain of remaining upright. She has also been fainting and vomiting during and after forced activities.
However, one doctor told her he would refer to her as a "wah-wah baby" every time she cries. She has also been threatened with being "thrown into the deep end of a pool" to force her to "deal with reality" if she doesn't comply with proposed activities.
The hospital cut off phone calls between the young woman and her mother and restricted her mother's visiting rights. The Department of Family Services would not allow a CFS-sympathetic doctor to examine her.
A court challenge to DFS's custody has failed. Despite some doctors telling the court that the woman has CFS, the magistrate accepted the argument presented by two psychiatrists that the young woman had somatisation/conversion disorder. (In somatisation disorder, the patient reports pain and sickness symptoms for which there is no physical cause. Conversion disorder sufferers have lost voluntary control of their limbs.) The DFS has custody over the woman until she is 18.
Similar cases of young people and children suffering CFS have been reported. However, in this case the mother was single and an easy adversary for psychiatrists and the DFS. The mother must raise $8000-$10,000 to appeal the court decision.
For more information on CFS or this case, contact the Queensland CFS Society on (07) 3832 9744 or at PO Box 938, Fortitude Valley 4006.