Veteran Beliefs About the Causes of Gulf War Illness and Expectations for Improvement 2023 Kane et al

Background
Individuals’ beliefs about the etiology of persistent physical symptoms (PPS) are linked to differences in coping style. However, it is unclear which attributions are related to greater expectations for improvement.

Method and Results
A cross-sectional regression analysis (N = 262) indicated that Veterans with Gulf War Illness (GWI) who attributed their GWI to behavior, (e.g., diet and exercise), had greater expectations for improvement (p = .001) than those who attributed their GWI to deployment, physical, or psychological causes (p values > .05).

Conclusions
Findings support the possible clinical utility of exploring perceived contributing factors of PPS, which may increase perceptions that improvement of PPS is possible.

Paywall, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12529-023-10166-1

 

Indeed, agreed, but they [those making their career out of it] always measure it in the time period where there is the false hope, before the realisation of the harm done that wouldn't have been done without the false recovery stats or false hope and without the invalidation of and missed opportunities involved with toxic positivity. What things like this really do is prevent people from planning realistically for their future, or being accepted by society when things don't go according to the fibs and instead of the liars being blamed it is the patient seen as 'the problem' and the disappointment and the cause.

It doesn't even need empathy to realise this is just opportunism if they aren't doing follow-up at 3 and 5yrs at least, probably 10yrs - with those who did it being allowed to provide freeform feedback on how it impacted their lives/advice to those considering it/warnings etc given safety and backfires should be the ultimate consideratoin.

 

If you've had an untreatable disease for 30 years, it would difficult to justify expecting to recover. It's odd they consider expecting to recover a good thing. As Trish pointed out, someone who expects to get better is likely to be disappointed or blame themself.

 

If you attribute your Gulf War symptoms to bad diet and exercise, then it's likely you're not a genius or your symptoms are not severe. Or you are easily deluded by wellness articles and approaches. Or suffer from Fake Positivity Syndrome. Or you spent the war in an office job in the US.

However, if you have evidence or have been told by practitioners that your physical or psychological symptoms are related to your deployment, then quite possibly they are related to toxic substances released during war activities and extreme psychological stress (PTSD).

As to categorizing which attribution-style group believes it can improve symptoms by how the group looks at the causes of their symptoms seems odd, if that is the premise of the study. The power of positive thinking redux.