George Monbiot in The Guardian: ‘You don’t want to get better’: the outdated treatment of ME/CFS patients is a national scandal

[Countrygirl]

https://www.theguardian.com/.../chronic-fatigue-syndrome...
OpinionME / Chronic fatigue syndrome

‘You don’t want to get better’: the outdated treatment of ME/CFS patients is a national scandal​

George Monbiot

From harmful ‘therapies’ to social services referrals, the notion that this illness is psychosomatic is having devastating effects

It’s the greatest medical scandal of the 21st century. For decades, patients with ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) have been told they can make themselves better by changing their attitudes. This devastating condition, which afflicts about 250,000 people in the UK, was psychologised by many doctors and scientists, adding to the burden of a terrible physiological illness.
Long after this approach was debunked in scientific literature, clinicians who championed it have refused to let go. They continue to influence healthcare systems, governments and health insurers. And patients still suffer as a result.
ME/CFS saps sufferers of energy and basic physical and cognitive functions, confining many to their homes or even their beds, often shutting down their working lives, social lives and family lives. The extreme seriousness of this condition, and the fact that there is neither a diagnostic test nor a validated treatment, places a special duty of rigour on doctors and researchers. But patient care has been compromised, and useful research inhibited, by the lingering conviction of many practitioners that ME/CFS is “psychosocial”: driven by patients’ beliefs and behaviour.

https://www.actionforme.org.uk/get-...ZdEkWenxamEZp8_bPHYhH6VQEUUc3e9Nk6IXdyc0f4AUc

 

[BrightCandle]

Its a good article that brings receipts. The problem is this isn't remotely over. Its not like this societal abuse has stopped its continued as if the guidelines were never published. The guidelines didn't change a thing with my doctors nor the clinics and most of the NHS is in open revolt against the guidelines and this change. The discrimination runs deep in our societies and its going to take a lot of articles like this in the press showing how everyone is responsible before this sinks in what they have done.

 

[Hip]

Excellent article by journalist George Monbiot.

It's not often that you get a journalist who understands the whole history of the disastrous psychologisation of ME/CFS, but this article sums up the story nicely.

 

[linusbert]

nice!

the article is also written in a positive way in terms of remission. i almost feel like there is a chance it gets better by just reading this.
1/4 stay severe ill after many years... means 3/4 get better.

 

[Alvin2]

Thanks for posting this, it will come in handy on my appointment with the GET clinic on Friday.

 

[Countrygirl]

Thanks for posting this, it will come in handy on my appointment with the GET clinic on Friday.

You are being offered GET?????

 

[Alvin2]

You are being offered GET?????

It seems that way, i posted about it in this thread:
https://forums.phoenixrising.me/threads/i-have-more-sense-than-a-team-of-neurologists.89119/

Many posts but worth reading. I will find out on Friday if it is actually GET.

 

[godlovesatrier]

GET is still prescribed in the UK at quite a few clinics @Countrygirl

This was a good article, but it's a shame we could be waiting for decades for any meaningful change. God knows where we are going now - I despair!

 

[Countrygirl]

GET is still prescribed in the UK at quite a few clinics @Countrygirl

This was a good article, but it's a shame we could be waiting for decades for any meaningful change. Although we also have people in the papers now saying black people should be killed, so god knows where we are going now - I despair!

Yes, and often under another name like 'activity management'. The old guard doesn't want to let go because they built their careers and reputations on GET and denying the harm they inflict.