Exhausted are offered treatments - no evidence that you are recovering faster

Recently, a new evaluation of the studies available on stress treatments for people with fatigue syndrome was released. The review shows that the effects of the treatments studied are very small.

Marie Åsberg, professor emeritus at the Karolinska Institute, is one of the article authors.

- We now know that things happen in the stress system itself. When you overstay that system for a long time, it simply gets damage. Those injuries heal, but it takes a very long time, she says.

According to the review, some measures may relieve symptoms somewhat, at least until treatment ceases. But the only thing that has a proven effect on sick leave is adaptation at the workplace.

So-called green rehab, or garden therapy, is now offered by several county councils for the treatment of stress-related illness.

Kristina Glise, chief physician at the Institute of Stress Medicine, says that you now need to review the resources that are spent on various stress treatments.

- You test KBT, mindfulness, you test garden therapy. There are a variety of treatments that these patients have received and then they have not seen that it has affected the length of sick leave, which was surprising for what they had expected, says Kristina Glise.

Marie Åsberg says it is about creating the conditions for one to heal, such as adapting one's life to avoid negative stress, but that the healing process itself takes the time it needs, much like a bone fracture.

Sleep has proven to be important both in alleviating symptoms and in reducing sick leave, so measures to help the patient sleep better can be important.

Recently, however, a study was published in which a group of teachers ill with fatigue syndrome received internship treatment - a three-week stay abroad with contributions from, among others, a psychologist, occupational therapist and physiotherapist.

Compared to a control group, the internally treated patients had a higher employment rate after treatment. The major difference to other treatments is mainly the internatform and the occupational-specific treatment where one can discuss causes and improvements at a detailed level. The program also included follow-up on return to work, with concrete proposals for, for example, relocation.

Kristina Glise is cautiously positive about the study but thinks that the evidence is small and that the treatment is not realistic for large groups.

She says we should consider how the resources that are spent on stress treatments are used. Patients may need above all help to understand how they have been able to get into the situation they are in and help to plan their rehabilitation based on what the problem looks like. The employer should be involved, and some may feel good about talking to a psychologist, she says.

- Everyone has wanted to help with this difficult problem. Therefore, the treatment may have been overloaded. But now that we know more, when the research has shown its, then I think you have to sit down and think: What we do, we have to do it? Or can someone else do it outside of care, or it may not be necessary at all, says Kristina Glise.

Never before have so many people been sick with stress, and young women account for the largest increase. Assignment review has followed four of them for some crucial months of their lives - you will find the series “Sick Stressed” on SVT Play.