Many emerging illnesses, before they have gained acceptance by the medical
community, have initially been discounted as being hysteria, depression, so=
matoform
disorders, etc. One hundred years ago, polio was dismissed in just that fas=
hion. When
CFS gained notice in recent times, many of its symptoms were correlated to
depression, and many un-read physicians today still believe that's what CFS=
 is. Much
recent research, notably the finding by Demitrack that cortisol levels are =
low in CFS
patients whereas in depressed people they are high, indicates that CFS is n=
ot
depression. Other noted differences are that CFS patients tend to overestim=
ate their
abilities, retain a strong interest in life, and respond poorly to exercise=
, whereas the
opposite are typically observed in people who are depressed.

A politico-economic aspect of this issue is that health insurers have an in=
centive to
classify patients as having temporary illnesses that can be treated cheaply=
 and in a short
time. Depression is considered to be a short-term, treatable illness.

Another issue is that CFS patients can get "secondary depression" if their =
lives have
been disrupted because their illness has interfered with their job or their=
 social or family
life. This indirect consequence of the illness may be taken by some medical
professionals as indicating a cause rather than an effect of the observed s=
ymptoms.

See also question 2.04 above, regarding stress and psychology. Also, the di=
fferences
between CFS and other conditions, including depression, is discussed in the=
 Calabrese
article. (See Appendix 2 about how to get this article's text by e-mail.)