Date sent:      	Sun, 16 Sep 2001 

UK HEALTH CENTRE - ME


The following is a copy of Dr Charles Shepherd's response to the Health Centre re
classification of ME/CFS


DR CHARLES SHEPHERD

ME Association, 4 Corringham Road, Stanford-le-Hope, Essex SS17 OAH

Tel: O1375 642466

______________________________________________

11 September 2001

Dear Sir/Madam

RE: uk Health Centre classification of ME

We have received a number of quite justified complaints about the way in which ME
(myalgic encephalopathy) is being classified as a mental illness on your website.

The Department of Health does not classify ME as a mental/psychiatric illness and it
is fully recognised by the World Health Organisation as a genuine neurological
condition in their latest international classification of diseases (reference: ICD 10
G93.3).

Having worked in hospital psychiatry, I can assure you that I am a strong opponent of
any form of stigmatisation of psychiatric illness and that this complaint is in no
way intended to infer that such illnesses are in some way less serious or 'real' than
those normally regarded as physical.  And whilst fully accepting that some people
with ME do go on to develop a depressive component (as do those with many other
chronic conditions), the vast majority do not.  Consequently, the ME Association does
not see why this illness should be wrongly classified as mental/psychiatric when the
result can be all kinds of adverse consequences (ie exclusion from a higher rate
mobility component of a Disability Living Allowance and refusal to pay private health
insurance benefits) for those who are affected.

I would therefore hope that you can urgently reconsider your decision and insert ME
under neurological disorders.  Failing that, it could be classified under syndromes
or other conditions where, as in the case of ME, the pathogenesis (disease process)
crosses a number of clinical boundaries (ie infection, immunology, neurology,
sometimes psychiatry).

Yours sincerely


Dr Charles Shepherd
Medical Director
[Member of the Chief Medical Officer's Working Group on ME/CFS]