Sammendrag
Sammendrag
Det er svært lite psykologisk forskning sammenlignet med medisinsk forskning om ungdom som rammes av kronisk utmattelsessyndrom. Derfor er det begrenset kunnskap om de unges psykososiale fungering i en alder da jevnaldrende og venner betyr svært mye. I artikkelen gjennomgås de aktuelle publiserte forskning på området – fram til år 2011. Studiedesign var henholdsvis case/controll studier og intervensjonsstudier. Pasienter og kontroller ble fulgt over tid, i gjennomsnitt fire år. Det ble innhentet opplysninger om de unges sosiale fungering i familien og på skole i tillegg til de diagnostiske data. I hovedsak konkluderte forskerne med positive fremtidsutsikter for ungdommene, men metodiske svakheter var betydelige og definisjonene av bedring var bygd på medisinske symptomer og omfattet i liten grad hvordan de unge opplevde sin sosiale situasjon. Konklusjonen til forskere på feltet må derfor tas med forbehold. Denne oppgaven belyser den unges komplekse situasjon, sett fra et utviklingspsykologisk perspektiv. Individuelt tilpasset behandling i et tverrfaglig team er veien å gå i det videre arbeidet med denne pasientgruppen.
Better understanding of the future for adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome.
There have been an growing interest for Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) the last few years. The youth is known for being a troublesome, vulnerable time for most individuals. Especially this period of life is, from the perspective of developing psychology, essential for the social functioning of the individual.
Several studies have been published the last years, but mostly concerning adults with CFS. Using adolescents in research results in better knowledge about this vulnerable group – and better understanding of their future abilities after intervention. A few studies have been published on this specific topic. These studies have concluded that approximately two-thirds of the group will be fully recovered after intervention. This leaved the group with good prognosis. After a closer look at the method used in this research, I found several weaknesses. These findings makes the results overestified. It s hard to exclude confunding variables in small, heterogenous, not-randomized groups with aeveral drop-outs during intervention. What the interventions results is affected by may be individual and vary in such an extent that it may be the developments consistency which explains the positive prognosis. This makes it hard to generalize the findings. Furthermore, the researchers were mainly focused on how many teenagers got rid of the diagnose, rather than how they manage the every day of life after being isolated for a long time. In my opinion should such a state of functioning include the parameter ”social functioning”, but this has only been done in an smaller extent. Even though 2/3 of the group got rid of the diagnose itself, many of these so-called fully recovered teenagers struggled with depression among other symptoms of both mental and somatic art. This weakens the results of two-thirds being fully recovered. The picture is far more complicated than first believed, and the situation must be seen through developing psychology to reach a better understanding of the situation for the adolescence.