It is pleasing to find a book written in Melbourne displaying a knowledge of local circumstances. The Key to Caring, by Noel and Cynthia Schultz, was written after extensive consultation with Victorians caring for health impaired or disabled relatives and friends.

It takes the carer's point of view, and encourages the individual reader to find things of value to his or her need. Caring can mean attending to the loved one's physical needs, or just caring about the person because you love them. When caring for a person with a chronic illness, a balance of the needs of the carer and the sufferer seems to be the key. Numerous paths to achieving this balance, which should be more satisfying to the carer and the person cared for, are described or suggested in Noel and Cynthia's book.

The discussion of needs of carers in chapter one, The World of the Care Giver, reminds us that all giving, with no attention to the carer's own needs and interests, is not generally a successful path to follow. Unwell people confined to home or hospital usually appreciate a break from their carers, and prefer to conduct their own business when possible. Carers who have their own interests, their own contacts outside the home, are happier people and better carers. Both parties can be refreshed by some separateness.

The Key to Caring does not preach or prescribe. The reader is not told how he or she will necessarily feel at any special 'stages'. Of course, everyone's style is different. Every partnership's balance of needs is different. Different solutions suit different people, so the range of possibilities is discussed, especially in Chapter 2, Living with Loss.

There is no specific reference to the condition of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome nor special focus on any other particular illness in The Key to Caring. Although some attention is given by the authors to the needs of elderly people, and the very special circumstance of a person whose illness is terminal, much of the book's content is very applicable to the concerns of couples and families coping with CFS/ME.

This book is respectful, practical and encouraging to carers and the people they care about. Each chapter is supplemented by a small set of 'self development exercises' at the back, for those who appreciate the practical application of the ideas they are reading. Now in its second edition, it is valuable reading.

Reprinted from Emerge, December 1992.