Finland: 2023 Helsinki University Long Covid conference

Thread split from Paul Garner on Long Covid and ME/CFS - BMJ articles and other media.

Garner and Sharpe tag team at a Long Covid Symposium

https://twitter.com/user/status/1624482879194398720

 

The word Evidence in Evidence based-medicine seems to be used in the same way that Democratic is used in countries with Democratic in their official names – eg Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, The Democratic Republic of the Congo etc. All very Orwellian.

 

Trial By Error: An Upcoming “Biopsychosocial” Long Covid Conference in Finland

"What is it with the health care establishments in northern Europe? Why are they so devoted to non-evidence-based approaches to treating serious medical conditions? Why do they trust arguably fraudulent research, like the PACE trial and Professor Esther Crawley’s pediatric Lightning Process study? Why are the authors of these studies respected and even esteemed among some high-level circles in these countries?

The mind boggles."

https://www.virology.ws/2023/02/23/...sychosocial-long-covid-conference-in-finland/

 

Finland 16 March 2023

https://twitter.com/user/status/1624482879194398720

 

Truly Grimm
Sorry, couldn't resist

 

Yes, I have wondered this too.

People do get invited to conferences and not know who the other speakers are until they are confirmed by the conference committee. But really, how many professors are there that will add some sort of eminence celebrity quality to the whole thing? The local media can interview Sharpe, Emeritus Professor of Psychological Medicine (or any else that sounds good from his bio eg.

• Honorary Consultant in Psychological Medicine at Oxford University Hospitals NHSFT
• President, European Association of Psychosomatic Medicine, Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Integrated Care.
• Past-President, American Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
• Recipient of the American Psychiatric Association 'Adolf Meyer award' in 2023

“What do you think about x,y,z?” Queue drivel on BPS

Paul can say he is an epidemiologist, (well that must be a good thing, they helped us with the pandemic) and you had Long Covid and you are recovered, you are a amazing person, why aren’t other people recovering? “Because they haven’t tried LP, it really works! Look how well I am!” And you have been cyberbullied by rabid ME activists, you poor thing” nice polarised, made for measure sound bite (for Paul to record and get another journalist on TV and online to interview him on).

The conference committee seem to want to have “balanced” discussion which is laughable because they do not represent anything worthy in psychological consequences of have LC and Paul likes to hang out with his LP mates.

The conference organisers pay for all the costs, airfares, five star hotels, meals, often drinks, usually lots of nice pressies, gifts for spouses, outings around the area, so a basically a junket. Then it is an opportunity to go visit and meet up with colleagues and see if they can network a few people into LP or a new insurance company might give them their card for another BPS conference. Lots of hand shaking, smiling and pat on the backs for the great work they do gaslighting patients in the name of “science” and some other “wellness” for Paul. Maybe he has already started training in LP and will have have his own wellness centre in Liverpool.

So still unclear how and if they know each other. Who knows, Sharpe might think Paul is a misinformed peddler of pseudoscientific “treatment” and too polite to mention it.

 

I don't think this has been answered but I think I remember a few times when Sharpe re-tweeted some of the LP stuff, Garner's too, I think. I don't think they see it as competition at all, it's pretty much identical as far as they're concerned. Whatever works, I don't think they're particularly attached to CBT, it's just very marketable and fashionable. Crawley having done her own BS trial of this makes it clear.

And because everything they say about us is projection: boy do they follow fads and fashions. If the trend moves to some other more marketable mumbojumbo they'll follow without skipping a beat, even if some of it is the complete opposite, e.g. CBT vs ACT. They genuinely don't care what happens to the patients as long as business is good and they get participation trophies and good jobs.

 

Opinions overtook science at HUS Long Covid symposium

"On 16 March 2023, HUS organized the international Long Covid symposium ”Navigating the unknown: Exploring Realities and best practices on Long Covid”. About 100 people were present, mainly physicians, among whom were representatives from Kela (the Social Insurance Institution of Finland) and pension insurance companies. You can find previous posts about the symposium from our blog and David Tuller’s blog.

The symposium did not present any treatment methods for the treatment of Long Covid that are based on comprehensive research on the biological mechanisms of Long Covid. The primary message was that patients should be guided to think that their symptoms are caused by their own harmful thought and behavior patterns.

According to the speakers (with the exception of Dr. Nath), patients can be completely cured by modifying these patterns. In presentations discussing Long Covid treatment, personal opinions and attitudes of the speakers completely overrode the scientific consensus, guidelines and thousands of studies made on the subject. "

https://melc.fi/2023/03/23/opinions-overtook-science/

 

I read this piece yesterday and encourage everyone here to do so as well. Sharpe recites the same insipid points while Garner is as pugilistic as ever. It’s unhinged.

 

Does anyone know if there's a recording of what was said at the conference, rather than just summaries?

 

They're so sad. They can't cope with the truth so they're making their own bubbles of stupidity.

 

I'm happy he was invited and the BPS people had to listen to this in their little bubble.

 

I have my issues with Nath (where's the f**king intramural study?!!) but I genuinely think this was quite a noble thing to do. I wish more researchers would directly contradict bps ideology in this way.