Just a little positive story: had to fill out the GAD7 & PHQ (Hospital Anxiety & Depression) scores. For an appointment. I explained the the PHQ gives an over-inflated depression score because some of the items mis-measure ME symptoms as depression symptoms. The clinician said 1/

"yes because even if you're as happy as can be, you will always score at least a 6 just because of your ME". I was heartened that a mental health nurse could grasp this concept quite easily, and could also easily differentiate between my ME, the impact of ME on my mental 2/

health, and the impact of my mental health on my ME, while understanding that mental health issues are not causing my ME and that addressing them won't fix it. They understood that mental wellbeing was important but that the energy it takes to access mental health support can 3/

have a negative impact on my ME due to PEM, and agreed a follow up in a few weeks and a flexible approach to support to avoid making the ME worse. That had no trouble understanding any of this, which was encouraging. I do wish certain influential psychiatrists could grasp 4/

these nuances - they really aren't that complicated and understanding them can make a big difference to supporting appropriately rather than making things worse for someone with ME.

END.