Who is Simon Wessely?

Well thank you Saint. Since you are living in the UK, I would assume he is not your favourite person, is he (yet another sarcastic question)? My God seems to me that he is known here more than I thought. Who asked for his opinion on the subject anyway? Can any action be taken against this man?
 
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Dudden said:
Who is this "Simon Wessely" fellow?
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In the late 80's he and a few others promoted the belief that CFS is a state of deconditioning and unhelpful illness beliefs. This had a catastrophic effect on patients. It also led to the development of CBT and GET. Nowadays Wessely likes to claim that he's retired from CFS research but he is a director at the Science Media Center that continues to defend these ideas, and also orchestrated a media campaign to smear patients critical of the PACE trial as violent militants.
 
ladycatlover said:
While earning £305 a day for attendance and eating and drinking in subsidised restaurants. Grrr.
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You live in the UK @ladycatlover, dont you? Are you familiar with any legal actions that can be taken against this man (perhaps petitions)?

In the late 80's he and a few others promoted the belief that CFS is a state of deconditioning and unhelpful illness beliefs. This had a catastrophic effect on patients. It also led to the development of CBT and GET. Nowadays Wessely likes to claim that he's retired from CFS research but he is a director at the Science Media Center that continues to defend these ideas, and also orchestrated a media campaign to smear patients critical of the PACE trial as violent militants.
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Hello there @strategist, pleased to meet you. Was this individual the one who invented, or rather, proposed CBT as a treatment in general or was he the one who proposed it to be useful in CFS in particular? What does he benefit from doing this?
 
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Dudden said:
Was this individual the one who invented, or rather, proposed CBT as a treatment in general or was he the one who proposed it to be useful in CFS in particular? What does he benefit from doing this?
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He is not the inventor of CBT but was a junior psychiatrist in the late 1980s who invented an 'unhelpful illness beliefs' theory of ME/CFS as mentioned above by strategist, and decided that CBT would remove those unhelpful beliefs and thus effect a cure. His benefits were fame (he's very ambitious with a long history of pushing himself forward into the public eye as the 'expert' on ME/CFS and later on Gulf War Syndrome, with many radio and newspaper interviews on those topics), fortune and later a knighthood. A member here made an impressive compilation of quotes from his papers, with references, over the years, if you want a long and interesting read! https://www.s4me.info/threads/simon-wessely-research-related-quotes.1304/
 
Dudden said:
You live in the UK @ladycatlover, dont you? Are you familiar with any legal actions that can be taken against this man (perhaps petitions)?
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Unfortunately Wessely is such an important establishment figure now, with a knighthood and probably soon to get ennobled (for his work on Gulf War Syndrome doubtless). Countess of Mar commented to me years ago that she expected he would get a Lordship rather than a knighthood. While initially she was wrong I'm sure the time for that is not far off now. :mad:
 
EzzieD said:
He is not the inventor of CBT but was a junior psychiatrist in the late 1980s who invented an 'unhelpful illness beliefs' theory of ME/CFS as mentioned above by strategist, and decided that CBT would remove those unhelpful beliefs and thus effect a cure. His benefits were fame (he's very ambitious with a long history of pushing himself forward into the public eye as the 'expert' on ME/CFS and later on Gulf War Syndrome, with many radio and newspaper interviews on those topics), fortune and later a knighthood. A member here made an impressive compilation of quotes from his papers, with references, over the years, if you want a long and interesting read! https://www.s4me.info/threads/simon-wessely-research-related-quotes.1304/
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Yes, I came around that thread earlier. Notoriety and fortune, I think that is the main incentive. He is old enough to retire soon though, (he is 64), which would hopefully cease his reign over CFS in the UK.
 
ladycatlover said:
Unfortunately Wessely is such an important establishment figure now, with a knighthood and probably soon to get ennobled (for his work on Gulf War Syndrome doubtless). Countess of Mar commented to me years ago that she expected he would get a Lordship rather than a knighthood. While initially she was wrong I'm sure the time for that is not far off now. :mad:
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His "work"? Pardon my lack of knowledge in that field but, I am not aware of any work he has done in Gulf War Syndrome. Why would he receive nobility for scientific research that, really, many others deserve more than him? This is rubbish.
 
Dudden said:
Hello there @strategist, pleased to meet you. Was this individual the one who invented, or rather, proposed CBT as a treatment in general or was he the one who proposed it to be useful in CFS in particular? What does he benefit from doing this?
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Check here
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2553945

I think that initially the motivation behind the psychologization of ME and CFS was to make it easier to deny medical treatment and disability benefits to patients. This is why they insist that there is no organic abnormality and that the illness is reversible with patient effort. Several PACE authors and Wessely have ties to the health insurance industry or are involved in some way in disability benefits assessment.

Nowadays there is also a CBT/GET industry which has expanded into several other conditions, which it sees as their turf.
 
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Abstract
Simple rehabilitative strategies are proposed to help patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome. A model is outlined of an acute illness giving way to a chronic fatigue state in which symptoms are perpetuated by a cycle of inactivity, deterioration in exercise tolerance and further symptoms. This is compounded by the depressive illness that is often part of the syndrome. The result is a self-perpetuating cycle of exercise avoidance. Effective treatment depends upon an understanding of the interaction between physical and psychological factors. Cognitive behavioural therapy is suggested. Cognitive therapy helps the patient understand how genuine symptoms arise from the frequent combination of physical inactivity and depression, rather than continuing infection, while a behavioural approach enables the treatment of avoidance behaviour and a gradual return to normal physical activity.
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This is utter nonsense. It is absurd to suggest that psychiatry has anything to do with these unexplained symptoms. He is indirectly suggesting, in a very tricky way, that CFS are deluded or even crazy. If this was to be true (that a mans psychology can "trick" them into thinking that they have some unknown disease and are therefore very tired, have post exertional malaise and brain fog after excercise) then more than 90% of the worlds population would have CFS and can, theoretically, snap out of it anytime they wish.
 
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large donner said:
Seeing as he had no interest in ever doing this anyway why would he care.
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You dont say. He cares to comment on recent researches, discredit them anyway he can yet offers no solution at all. Instead of coming up with problems, how about coming up with a solution (or at the very least, stay away from topics that dont concern you). And what does he know about biochemistry anyway? He is only a psychiatrist for God´s sake.
 
chrisb said:
It has to be said that he did come up with a "solution" in 1989, and pursued it for many years thereafter. Its just that it wasn't a solution, and none of us liked it.
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Indeed he did and although I dont deny that none of us did like it, it is not an issue of our likings but rather an issue of realization. You see, since then, many studies and researchers proved that CFS is a biological issue yet he never really did retract his claims, nooo. He had to insist on CFS being a psychatric issue and for what? To keep his nobility titles and keep his status? Only look at the following quote and decide for yourself.
Cognitive therapy helps the patient understand how genuine symptoms arise from the frequent combination of physical inactivity and depression, rather than continuing infection, while a behavioural approach enables the treatment of avoidance behaviour and a gradual return to normal physical activity
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As far as I know, I have never heard of disabilities "arise" from depression or any other psychological issue.
 
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Dudden said:
You see, since then, many studies and researchers proved that CFS is a biological issue ...

As far as I know, I have never heard of disabilities "arise" from depression or any other psychological issue.
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I think it is important to accept that Simon Wessely has a point in cautioning overoptimism about new findings. Wessely did some competent biological research early on - he is not ignorant of immunology, genetics and such things. He found nothing and admitted it. And nothing since has really proved anything because we are still at the stage of having suggestive findings that tend not to get replicated.

I don't think Wessely would deny we are dealing with a biological issue either - psychiatric illnesses are very biological. Very severe disabilities arise from depression - inability to talk, inability to eat, severe weight loss, and so on.

Wessely's error has been to champion research that is methodologically inadequate and to give the impression he and his colleagues understand ME/CFS when nobody does.
 
I think the best thing to do with the BPS cabal is to focus on the quality of their research rather than to try and challenge their motivations.

Michael Sharpe clearly used Twitter to try and bait patients in order to feed his desired narrative. I just think it’s best to let them retire into obscurity rather than give them too much airtime.

We now have far more interesting things to say...like encouraging and supporting the hunt for a new diagnostic marker and funding for more quality research.

The more we discuss them the more we give them opportunities to misrepresent what we say.
 
I think it is important to accept that Simon Wessely has a point in cautioning overoptimism about new findings. Wessely did some competent biological research early on - he is not ignorant of immunology, genetics and such things. He found nothing and admitted it. And nothing since has really proved anything because we are still at the stage of having suggestive findings that tend not to get replicated.
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Valid points.
I don't think Wessely would deny we are dealing with a biological issue either - psychiatric illnesses are very biological. Very severe disabilities arise from depression - inability to talk, inability to eat, severe weight loss, and so on.
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Indeed. I personally believe that one´s psychology CAN result in or contribute to CFS as was the case with myself. However, that does not disguise the fact that solving your psychological issues will bring you out of CFS. Depression can surely cause some major issues but I would not necessarily call these issues "disabilities" for "disabilities" are not simply resolved. And believe me when I say that I know alot about depression. I am not implying that I know all about depression, but I have, as many others, experienced it for very long periods.
 
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