MAGICAL MEDICINE: HOW TO MAKE AN ILLNESS ... - Invest in ME

A cultural, not a medical, problem
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As Hillary Johnson, author of “Osler’s Web: Inside the Labyrinth of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Epidemic” (Crown Publishers, Inc. New York 1996) says in her article “Across the Pond, Part One, August
2009:
“It’s hard to imagine a general patient population that has suffered more horribly than the English, given
the remarkable sway of a handful of British psychiatrists, such as Simon Wessely, who dominate and even
define the field there. This cabal continues to propose ever more preposterous explanations for the
emergence of this disease in England, their influence leading directly to the incarceration of patients in
psychiatric wards, the arrest of parents of patients, one might even claim the death of patients, and
certainly all manner of abuse in the realm of treatments and therapy
(http://www.oslersweb.com/blog.htm?post=623914).
It is almost as though the Wessely School diagnose “CFS/ME” by accusation and seem only too willing – if
not eager ‐‐ to dispense with the rules of rigorous scientific analysis when it comes to their model of the
biopsychosocial construct.
Common sense would suggest that it is better to admit to not understanding something than to construct
implausible and untestable theories to hide ignorance.
The Wessely School’s disregard of what is already known about ME/CFS seems to have had the effect of
uncovering two undesirable characteristics in many clinicians who deal with ME/CFS patients: (i) an
inability to admit ignorance and (ii) contempt for patients they perceive as somatisers. Far too many
patients with ME/CFS can testify to the fact that doctors are willing to forget about medical science because
of their strong antipathy to anyone with the label of “CFS/ME” and are quite happy to subject them to
“punitive” regimes of CBT/GET, even though the Wessely School’s model is not data‐driven but merely
opinion.
In many respects, the problem that patients with ME/CFS face is cultural, not scientific.
Despite the numerous and significant scientific advances internationally in understanding the nature of
ME/CFS, the assiduous efforts of the Wessely School have ensured that UK clinicians’ attitude towards
patients with ME/CFS has undoubtedly worsened since 1987 when Simon Wessely came to prominence, and
the immeasurable suffering of people with ME/CFS continues unabated.
Many people firmly believe that patients are subjected to what can only be described as medical abuse and
neglect because of the way in which the Wessely School has portrayed ME/CFS as a behavioural disorder.
Patients with ME/CFS are still ridiculed and dismissed by their doctors and the DWP is increasingly
targeting and harassing people with ME/CFS.
It is the case that on the very day that one of the people who sought information about the PACE Trial under
the FOIA received that information, the applicant also received notification to attend a DWP Tribunal for re‐
assessment of benefits. It is also the case that when duly attending the DWP Tribunal, on the instruction of
the Examining Medical Practitioner the applicant was refused entry to the Hearing until an intimate body
search for weaponry had been carried out. Such intimidatory tactics perpetrated by the DWP upon an
extremely sick and vulnerable ME sufferer are inexcusable.
Of overwhelming importance is the fact that, in rejecting the biomedical evidence that exists about ME/CFS,
the Wessely School and the agencies of State to which they are advisors are simply wrong about ME/CFS. It
is not a continuum of chronic fatigue, but a distinct nosological entity that, like multiple sclerosis, causes
incapacitating physiological exhaustion.