Critical article from Finland about Gupta and LP as treatments for ME and Long Covid. Prof. Bergquist interviewed

This was a great article from the national broadcaster in Finland, Yle (their Swedish department).

Svenska Yle: "Det är inget annat än hjärntvätt" - HUS förespråkar kontroversiell vård till patienter, också postcovidpatienter har hänvisats till samma klinik

google translation: "It is nothing but brainwashing" - HUS recommends controversial treatment for patients, postcovid patients too have been referred to the same clinic

Quotes:

People with ME, often referred to as chronic fatigue syndrome, hoped for better care when the Clinic for Functional Conditions was founded at Helsinki University Hospital in 2018. But now the patient organization is concerned about the alternative care methods recommended for the sick.

...

- At that clinic, they give psychological diagnoses and believe that everything is between the ears. These methods sound like pure frame humbug, says Joni Savolainen, front figure for Finland's postcovid patients.

But the clinic's chief physician, neurologist Markku Sainio, says it is not that simple.

- We have learned, from patients who have recovered, that these methods really help. But there are some patients who refuse to believe that the methods are effective, and they say that they get sicker when they hear that their disease is rooted in something psychological, he says.

...

(Jonas Bergquist)

- At this stage, you should be humble and open to different treatment methods. At the same time, it is important to listen to the patient, how he experiences the problems and the disease is central to all types of diseases we look at. It is important to have it with you in the entire treatment strategy that is built up in the world and when it comes to understanding the disease better, he says.

Methods where the seriously ill have recovered, such as by magic, he is skeptical of.

 

Uh, what? Nobody says that. Actually they're the ones saying that with the cultural illness crap. Which makes it an even more odd statement.

 

You can always tell when a BPS-proponent is not even trying to understand the criticism against psychological therapies, and is just looking for ways to make patients who disagree with them look like irrational, uneducated idiots. This statement is a good example of that. While I disagree with all of them, it seems that at least some BPS-proponents actually try to understand what the patients are trying to say, while others (such as this guy) wilfully misinterpret the criticism to make the patients look bad.

It's an unethical way of using your power and prestige, and it reflects poorly on the whole profession.