The utter stupidity of questionnaires as tools for diagnosis. A lighthearted look at some questionnaires misused in ME/CFS research

First of all, making a diagnosis is a professional act that no questionnaire alone can ever replace, contrary to what can sometimes be perniciously implied by the title or the conclusion of a "research".

In my life, I try to look for the facts, the reality, the truth. So these " Tests ", supposed to be tools, when their content is poorly adapted or/and used by biased people, they are in my opinion at the opposite end of the spectrum. Instead of illuminating, they contribute to obscuring the real phenomenon studied.

For my part, it is rare that I had to submit to a questionnaire. I only remember the one on chronic pain giving access to a pain Clinic in my area. Well, I filled it in with such precision, adding essential details so as not to be misinterpreted, that the principal investigators must have hated me and my data may have been declared " unusable "!

Actually, like many here, I find it very easy to foresee from the questions what the test is used to measure... So, if I have the misfortune of having to fill out a questionnaire, well, I answer with a lot of common sense and discernment (I remain authentic but intuitively, I try to counterbalance its excesses, if I may say so...) since it is extremely rare that they have any. Psychological questionnaires applied to chronic diseases, among other things, are a real disaster because they grossly confuse symptoms and impacts of a trying illness or downright physical symptoms with psychological ones (the great psychosomatic illusion). In fact, as we all unfortunately know, they are no longer tools but can become harmful weapons for patients.

 

I expect on some of those questionnaires, if you answered 99 questions 'no' and one that was vague enough to be considered 'yes', the psychiatrist would say: "Aha! You are definitely depressed. Here's your prescription. Problem solved." I suppose a lot of questionnaires are just justification for whatever end result the person desired. If your only tool is a hammer, you'll try to make everything look like a nail.

 

On the occasions in which I've been given a questionnaire like those discussed here, I just simply answer '0' or 'No' to every question, LOL. I just don't feel inspired to waste my minimal energy mulling over stupid questions and dignifying them with answers!