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| Vignette | Gender, age | Demography | 1st complaint mentioned in consultation/principal complaint | Secondary complaints | Self-assessment of disability |
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| 1 | ♀ 25 | Single, no children.
Interrupted secondary education.
Currently in rehabilitation program.
Several short time jobs and sick leave spells. | General pain in the neck, the back, and in arms.
Intense pain 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. | Respiratory complaints, no objective findings of asthma or other known somatic disease. Anxiety and depression periodically treated with antidepressants. | Expresses hope to achieve ability to work, but need substantial improvement in health conditions first. |
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| 2 | ♂ 40 | Married, two children.
Working offshore on oil platform as a mechanic—two weeks on, four weeks off work.
Several shorter periods of sick leave and two long spells (one year each). | Back and neck pain. | Sleeping disturbances due to pain.
Irritable bowel syndrome,
skin eczema. | The work is physically hard and provokes pain.
He does not see himself in this job until retirement, but the salary and long periods off work make him keeping the job. |
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| 3 | ♀ 53
| Housewife for 20 years with five foster care children in addition to two biological children. The fostering years has ended and her income consequently also.
Bringing up foster children have been challenging due to narcotics and psychiatric disorders in the foster children. | Generalized, widespread nonspecific pain. | Anxiety, noninsulin dependent diabetes,
general fatigue, no energy left. | She has not had any working experiences outside home for nearly 30 years.
She feels exhausted and wants to be left alone with no demands of working activity or qualification for work. |
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| 4 | ♂ 37
| Married, unknown number of children.
Previously working offshore, but started as self-employed in construction. | General intense fatigue. | No other complaints, but has read about CFS which he finds fitting his problems.
Economically burdens due to poor benefit coverage as self-employed. | No work capacity. |
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| 5 | ♂ 42 | Married, three children.
Works as formwork carpenter.
No previous history of sick leave.
A 12 year old daughter with serious behavioral problems, she refuses to go to school, meets her parents with substantial aggression, runs away from home. The girl is enrolled in a behavioral training program with great demands of parents’ involvement. | He feels physically and psychologically exhausted, afraid that he might collapse.
No energy left to deal with his daughter after work. | No other complaints. | He needs a time off to deal with his family problems.
The program is set for 3-4 months. |
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| 6 | ♀ 37 | No information on marital status or children.
Working in a kindergarten.
Previous 4-month sick leave for same complaints was followed by no symptoms for one and a half years. | Periodically numbness, staring like a toothache, followed by headache and a sensation of anesthesia on the right side of the body; things slip out of her hand. Extensive medical examination has not proved any cause of the symptoms. | No other complaints. | Difficult to work with these complaints, unsure about sick leave. |
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| 7 | ♀ 35 | No information on marital status or children.
Working as teacher in primary school.
No previous sick leave history, no previous psychiatric or somatic disorder.
| Feeling tired, weak, does not get things done, struggling, powerless, sleeping disturbances.
Relates the symptoms to work overload. | No other complaints. | She feels she may need time out from work. |
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| 8 | ♂ 36 | Married, two small children.
Working as teacher at comprehensive level.
Very active sports trainer, coaches a 1st division handball team.
No previous sick leave history, no previous psychiatric or somatic disorder.
Worried about possible serious illness despite negative examinations so far.
An affair a year ago bothers him a lot. | Pain started in the jaw muscle, following in the neck, head, and stomach. | Sleeping disturbances,
frustrated, lack of energy, withdrawal from social events and friends, anxious. | He wants to return to work but not for the moment. |
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| 9 | ♂ 38 | Married, no children.
Works as a technician in an event bureau, producing big shows, theatres, and films.
As the work is located in another city 270 km away, he commutes weekly. | General tiredness of work and commuting, low energy.
According to his wife, he is irritable and passive, even aggressive towards his wife. | No other complaints. | The wife makes the doctor appointment as he himself has left work three weeks ago and made no contact with his employer. |
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