Brain Retraining treatment for ME/CFS and Long COVID - discussion thread

[JellyBabyKid]

The middle ground ends just before their brain training begins.
The middle ground is the yoga and meditation and knowing yourself and understanding your emotions and dealing with difficult circumstances.

Nobody is disputing they are helpful.

The leap into writing “stop” on paper, and repeating the mantra “my brain is safe” and joining a community and buying a book and watching and subscribing to their YouTube channels…that’s over the line.

Apologies, I misspoke here.

What I meant was there could be a middle ground to say; these techniques could be helpful and supportive for some people and there are issues that need biomedical research and treatment.

As someone who has bought the books and listens to the podcasts, they ALL start with this is THE solution and works for EVERYONE and I think it would be more productive/helpful if they were it say this is A supportive approach as opposed to the absolutist approach.

It makes it very hard to engage with something that might potentially be useful, that one needs to believe wholesale that is absolutely curative 100% of the time, and that was the middle ground I was suggesting. We, as a forum are more than happy to examine any approach or research and identify and accept its limitations, a lot of the brain training approaches I have seen discussed by its proponents claim it does not have any limitations, is completely safe and 100% effective.

That was where I was suggesting there could be a middle ground; more maybe and curiosity, less absolutism and certainty.

Edit to correct spelling errors

 

[MrMagoo]

One size fits all and all the distortions, microaggressions and evasions that are exemplified too often is beyond my line. If sb says "I got better thru XYZ" I can question but not refute and I cannot stop them anyway, so I fix my line at claims that their way is for ME/CFS per se.

There’s just no evidence.
There are anecdotes but it’s bad form for us to question them, even when there are things which are “off”
Our own experience doesn’t matter

Boring

 

[MrMagoo]

Apologies, I misspoke here.

What I meant was there could be a middle ground to say; these techniques could be helpful and supportive for some people and there are issues that need biomedical research and treatment.

As someone who has bought the books and listens to the podcasts, they ALL start with this is THE solution and works for EVERYONE and I think it would be more productive/helpful if they were it say this is A supportive approach as opposed to the absolutist approach.

It makes it very hard to engage with something that might potentially be useful, that one needs to believe wholesale that is absolutely curative 100% of the time, and that was the middle ground I was suggesting. We, as a forum are more than happy to examine any approach or research and identify and accept its limitations, a lot of the brain training approaches I have seen discussed by its proponents claim it does not have any limitations, is completely safe and 100% effective.

That was where I was suggesting there could be a middle ground; more maybe and curiosity, less absolutism and certainty.

Edit to correct spelling errors

Would that get talks and books and courses sold?

 

[JellyBabyKid]

Would that get talks and books and courses sold?

I think it would be more helpful to those open to finding it useuful, without feeling crushed if it isn't a cure and blaming themselves - or spending ridiculous amounts of time trying to find trauma that may or may not exist

More people might be open to it if they didn't have to have complete faith and then be let down.

And then it might reach the people who find it genuinely helpful.

 

[MrMagoo]

I think it would be more helpful to those open to finding it useuful, without feeling crushed if it isn't a cure and blaming themselves - or spending ridiculous amounts of time trying to find trauma that may or may not exist

More people might be open to it if they didn't have to have complete faith and then be let down.

And then it might reach the people who find it genuinely helpful.

But that’s central to it. You can’t remove its central premise.

 

[Mij]

I wonder if it’s cured the sister he mentioned as having ME/CFS for many years. That’s a recovery story I’d be interested to hear.

I would be interested to know if they were both diagnosed by the same "CFS/ME specialist".

 

[richie]

There’s just no evidence.
There are anecdotes but it’s bad form for us to question them, even when there are things which are “off”
Our own experience doesn’t matter

Boring

You me or them?

 

[richie]

But that’s central to it. You can’t remove its central premise.

Yes the central problem is believism.