I am Frank Albrecht. I have a Ph.D. in a combination of psychology and history from Johns Hopkins. I also did a post-doctoral fellowship in social psychology at Johns Hopkins and am a member of the American Psychological Association. I am licensed in Maryland as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and certified nationally as a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor. In the past I have been high school teacher and a college professor, as well as a counselor.
My experience includes emergency room work with psychiatric emergencies among children, adolescents, and adults; private practice with adults, adolescents, and families; public mental health clinic work with adults and adolescents who have major mental illness and chronic depression; responding to in-school mental health emergencies (such as suicide or homicide threats), and counseling work with adults and teens who have disabling physical illness.
I've seen quite a few clients, both adults and adolescents, who were referred to me for depression or anxiety but who turned out to have CFS, FMS, or various other fatiguing illnesses.
I had my first CFS clients before my my daughter, Sarah, now 17, became ill. She now has frequent kidney stones, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, neurally mediated hypotension, and chronic fatigue syndrome. She has been helped by medication for NMH and by a procedure for sclerosing pelvic and ovarian veins, but she still is able to be active only a few hours per day.
When Sarah was diagnosed with these problems in September of 1995, her mother, Michelle, and I became interested in finding information and support for parents. But we couldn't find very much, and that little was very scattered in many sites. There wasn't even that much adult victims of the these illnesses, much less for children and parents. I used to write a newspaper family column, and I'm online a lot, so it was natural for me to think about starting an online support center.
My wife now also has developed a disabling illness that's hard to characterize. She does have chronic orthostatic intolerance, and rather severely. Otherwise-- Post-Lyme Disease? Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? Cervical Senosis? Chiari Malformation? We're looking at many possibilities. Meanwhile she is just as sick as Sarah and is no longer able to work.
If you have a problem with a child who was CFS or any other fatiguing illness, I'll be glad to try to answer your questions or refer you onward. I also like to hear from directly from children and adolescents. E-mail me.
Should anyone wish to consult me professionally I can be reached at:
The Regional Clinic at Talbot
17 S. Washington Street
Easton, MD 21601
410-822-5580
My e-mail address is franka@skipjack.bluecrab.org
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