Contesting the psychiatric framing of ME/CFS, 2017, Spandler and Allen

Hi I'm Meg Allen, one of the authors of the paper, I've found the comments here really fascinating and a lesson in how what you write can be read in different ways!

I was diagnosed with ME in 1991 and have had the usual negative experiences of ME patients over the last 30 odd years. I've had to work part time or not at all and am now semi-retired, poor and ill and I get no financial or medical help. I believe my condition is physical and the need for medical research is urgent and maybe we should have made that clearer in the paper.

What we were trying to say is that on top of that of course people will resist a psychiatric diagnosis because (apart from it being inaccurate) it creates additional problems. It leaves us not being believed, getting no medical services and being subject to potentially harmful & even forced treatments.

The article is really a reply to Wessley and Co who said that ME patients are prejudiced against a psychiatric diagnosis, and by implication, people with mental health problems. The piece doesn't say that ME isn't physical, there's no way I'd ever say that and I'm really sorry if people read it that way.

The article is written in an academic style and was aimed directly at medics and academics so maybe that's caused some of the misunderstandings. I'm happy to discuss this further and feel very sad if anythng we've written has reinforced any negative feelings, I know ME is difficult enough! take care Meg