The Times view on taking myalgic encephalomyelitis seriously: Chronic Condition

While their heart seems in the right place with this, I do worry that the narrative presented is simplified in some unhelpful and misleading ways that risk strengthening the position of people like Wessely. eg presenting concerns about CBT and GET like this "adding to the distress of sufferers by implicitly suggesting that it was a form of mental illness", but not looking at the specifics of the problems with the research.

 

Can I just quote a slightly edited version of something I wrote in a related thread yesterday?

 

I tried to pre-empt this with my letter to The Times (see new thread). Unfortunately, the editing diluted the point I was trying to make but I hope it still came across to some extent.

If anyone else is thinking of writing, my guess is that The Times may still be receptive to publishing letters on ME until the end of the week – particularly if they refer to the letters published today. It will be interesting to see if they publish anything from Wessely et al. If they do, that will present another opportunity to counter now that the referee appears to be on our side. Just remember to keep letters as short as possible and (unlike me) only try to make one clear point.

 

I think it did - difficult to fully explain how they've misleadingly simplified things in an article if you only have half a paragraph!

 

@Wits_End

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