Clinical Guidance for ME: “Evidence-Based” Guidance Gone Awry - Mary Dimmock

[Sly Saint]

Not sure if this has been posted.
(MD is a member of S4ME)

Clinical Guidance for ME: “Evidence-Based” Guidance Gone Awry Mary Dimmock

January 2018

"
This article is intended as a high-level summary of key issues in the conduct of reviews of the
ME evidence-base that have resulted in flawed conclusions and recommendations in clinical
guidance. This has misled medical providers on the nature of ME and its appropriate treatment
and put people with ME at risk of harm."

Summary
For many years, ME evidence-based reviews and clinical guidance globally, such as those from
Cochrane, UpToDate, Mayo, NICE, and various medical journals and societies around the world
have recommended cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) as
effective and safe treatments for ME. Further, these sources have sometimes claimed that
disease risk and poor prognosis is the result of behavioral and psychological factors such as
maladaptive coping, a history of abuse, perfectionism, and the patient’s belief that the disease is
organic. In spite of patient surveys and ancedotal reports that these treatments were not only
ineffective but harmful, these recommendations and statements have remained.

full article available here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kbjmmuc1u...Evidence Based Guidance January 2018.pdf?dl=0