Copied post - the treatment promoted is Cognitive fx After Lady Gaga's recent bragging that she performed for FIVE NIGHTS while fully infectious with Covid, her make-up artist, Sarah Tanno, reveals devasting struggle with long covid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4PPp7_Nm0Q
Yes, it's essentially an advertisement for cognitive exercise therapy. It shows really well how these behavioural treatments 'work': the desperate desire on the part of the patient to be well again; their appreciation of the therapists who are kind and validating and seem to have the answers; the suggestion that the treatment is not a quick fix and that the patient has to believe and put the work in; some spurious technology that says at the end of the first phase of treatment 'you are now cured'; the patients who happened to become better while doing the treatment who become evangelists for it, and part of the treatment machinery by becoming trainers; the patient rationalising away the fact that they still feel rubbish; the moving out of the time when they will feel better to 'another 3 months'... Edit - oh, and there's even the 'don't worry if you feel worse with the treatment to start with, it's a sign that it's working.'
Here's the link to the website: https://www.cognitivefxusa.com/ They are primarily a post-concussion treatment facility, and the 'develop new neural pathways' approach could make sense I guess. But the fact that the woman in the video above said that she had an fMRI done and it was all red (indicating problems) and then after her treatment the report from the followup fMRI was all green, while she still had the symptoms of Long Covid underlines the subjectivity of fMRIs at this point. All it takes is for a few people to naturally recover while undergoing the treatment, and you have your glowing testimonials to bring more patients in.
