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Differentiating Fatigue in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Psychiatric Disorders
Published in Gerald Matthews, Paula A. Desmond, Catherine Neubauer, P.A. Hancock, The Handbook of Operator Fatigue, 2017
Leonard A. Jason, Molly Brown, Meredyth Evans, Abigail Brown
While many cognitive or behavioral interventions for depression and anxiety focus primarily on changes in cognition or mood, some research suggests that interventions can also be useful in reducing fatigue severity. For example, exercise regimens have been found to reduce fatigue among people with depression (Lane & Lovejoy, 2001). Cognitive behavior therapy has also been successfully applied to those with depression, and some positive findings have occurred in fatigue levels (Friedberg & Krupp, 1994). Pharmacotherapy has also been used to target symptoms of fatigue among patients with depression. The severity of fatigue has been found to substantially decrease after one month of antidepressant medication, but after one month fatigue levels do not continue to show much reduction (Greco, Eckert & Kroenke, 2004). One study found that among people with depression, the addition of modafinil (i.e., a medication used to improve wakefulness among people with sleep disorders) to an antidepressant regimen significantly improved fatigue compared to placebo, although the improvements were not sustained at a six-week follow-up (DeBattista et al., 2003). Finally, given that fatigue is often a psychiatric symptom, most individuals with depression are able to return to their premorbid level of energy upon recovery from a major depressive episode (Buist-Bouwman et al., 2004).
Coping with Fatigue
Published in Rhona Flin, Paul O’Connor, Margaret Crichton, Safety at the Sharp End, 2008
Rhona Flin, Paul O’Connor, Margaret Crichton
In military aviation, stimulants, or ‘go pills’, such as dexedrine (dextroamphetamine) are used to increase alertness and maintain performance. However, their use is carefully monitored by medical personnel and is generally only authorised during combat or exceptional circumstances of operational necessity. A newer medicine that is receiving some attention for attenuating the performance effects of fatigue is modafinil. Originally used to treat narcolepsy, modafinil has been shown to enhance cognitive performance (particularly during the circadian troughs in performance and alertness) in normal, sleep-deprived adults. However, Wesensten et al. (2002) found no significant differences in performance and alertness between caffeine and modafinil in sleep-deprived individuals.
Responsible Research and Innovation in the context of human cognitive enhancement: some essential features
Published in Journal of Responsible Innovation, 2018
Clare Shelley-Egan, Anders Braarud Hanssen, Laurens Landeweerd, Bjørn Hofmann
Prescription medications used to treat cognitive impairments and to improve the quality of life of sufferers of neurodegenerative diseases and individuals with brain injury (Sahakian and Morein-Zamir 2011) are also used by healthy individuals in an effort to achieve ‘better than normal’ cognitive ability (Hall 2004; Racine and Forlini 2010; Farah et al. 2014; Frati et al. 2015). Stimulants prescribed for the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder – Ritalin (methylphenidate) and Adderall (mixed amphetamine salts) – and for the treatment of fatigue caused by narcolepsy and other sleep disorders – Modafinil – are most commonly used for cognitive enhancement purposes (Greely et al. 2008). Smart drugs are reported to be used by specific groups including students and academics (Sahakian and Morein-Zamir 2007) for a number of enhancement purposes, ranging from increasing productivity to improving alertness (Castaldi et al. 2012) and enhancing concentration (Mache et al. 2012).