Chicago Health: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Is Debilitating but Often Dismissed

I wonder what Jason means with this statement:

Jason agrees that mental health approaches, like cognitive behavioral therapy, can “allow patients the mental space to be able to do more and decrease the belief that their condition is serious,” but he cautions that therapy doesn’t actually cure the physical symptoms of ME/CFS.

MD Leslie Mendoza, medical director of the Integrative Medicine Program at Northshore University Healthsystem is also interviewed and talks about her holistic approach to treating ME/CFS with among others acupuncture, massage, herbs, cannabis, yoga and movement..

https://chicagohealthonline.com/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-is-debilitating-but-often-dismissed/

 

That's a contradiction of his own work... Must be a miscontextualised quote, esp regarding the word 'serious'.

Does he know about it? Is he on this forum BTW?

Just one example of an LJ article:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29430570

Differentiating Multiple Sclerosis from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Jason LA1, Ohanian D1, Brown A1, Sunnquist M1, McManimen S1, Klebek L1, Fox P1, Sorenson M1.
Author information
Abstract
Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), and Chronic Fatigue syndrome are debilitating chronic illnesses, with some overlapping symptoms. However, few studies have compared and contrasted symptom and disability profiles for these illnesses for the purpose of further differentiating them. The current study was an online self-report survey that compared symptoms from a sample of individuals with MS (N = 120) with a sample of individuals with ME or CFS (N = 269). Respondents completed the self-report DePaul Symptom Questionnaire. Those individuals with ME or CFS reported significantly more functional limitations and significantly more severe symptoms than those with MS. The implications of these findings are discussed.

 

When I say contradiction, I am meaning the implication that ME is not serious and that it is resolvable by CBT contradicts what I know about LJ and his work.

Sure, the first part about "mental space" is fine for anyone, let alone the chronically ill. But that second point regarding seriousness and the implication of just pushing through it because it is not serious... If instead he had suggested that 1) some people might benefit from doing a bit more than they do and that 2) such people hold back a little too much would be totally different message that could be open for discussion if made forensically (however dangerous it might be in the hands of ignorant medics). But that's not what was quoted...

Very odd and needs from clarification from him

 

He says CBT isn't curative for ME. It's the 'decrease the belief that the condition is serious' that's out of character.

 

It looks to me as though he has been quoted selectively and out of context.

 

Earlier this year he said the following in a DePaul interview (where I assume it would be easy for him to get a quote corrected if it was wrong)

Psychological, autonomic, and biological risk factors predispose people to developing ME/CFS following IM. We will determine which of these factors, if any, is also important for maintaining ME/CFS over time,” noted Jason, director of the Center for Community Research in DePaul’s College of Science and Health.

(my bold)
It's discussed in this thread:
https://www.s4me.info/threads/depau...no-in-college-age-students.13245/#post-230904

 

Agreed, and he's been on the record about that for a long time in many forms of media. I wasn't explicit enough, sorry.

That second part about seriousness could be selectively understood, in fact I would suggest will be selectively misunderstood, as implying exactly the opposite idea that CBT works. Even on top of the implication that ME is not serious.

Either 1) it will be read selectively to confirm existing baseless ideas about CBT, despite the statement that CBT is not curative, or 2) be taken at face value and implemented with little/no substantive difference in practice or harm to PACE assumptions. Society and medicine were predilected that way even pre BPS IMO

 

Thank you. I had seen and been concerned about that paper, and then totally forgot about it. I'll comment on that thread.

 

Which is very common in mainstream media...

 

Thank you. For some reason he doesn't come up in the editor when using @

@Leonard Jason - many thanks for all you do and have done. Not hollow words - I know many of us depend on your work or cite it directly in work released or yet to be.

Re your new NIH funded work, there are a number of posts on the following thread, including caveating how distinct words like predisposition, correlation and even comorbidity will too often end up being interpreted as causation in practice. While you may not be able to reply in detail at this stage, reviewing or commenting the following will be gratefully appreciated:

https://www.s4me.info/threads/depau...no-in-college-age-students.13245/#post-230904

 

Thanks for flagging. I've sent to him directly, at least for notification, even if he is not in a position to engage the threads directly.

 

Thank you for alerting me to this quote, which I never said. I have alerted the media outlet and asked them to delete this. My position on this type of therapy is very clear, in multiple publications including this one: Sunnquist, M., & Jason, L. A. (2018). A reexamination of the cognitive behavioral model of chronic fatigue syndrome. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 74, 1234–1245. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22593. PMCID: PMC6002889

 

Thank you very much

 

I'm continually dismayed that journalists get so much wrong in their reporting.

I thought their job was to report the facts, not an approximation or interpretation...or fabrication.

 

Thank you so much for clarifying @Leonard Jason

 

Misquote now deleted