Who is Simon Wessely?

[rvallee]

Trying to work through what his accomplishments are, and there are none listed. All imaginary contributions, which could have been positive if he had been right, but he has this lifelong habit of being comically wrong about most things, compensated by a knack for appearing to know what he's talking about. Which says a lot about what gets rewarded for contributions to health care.

The GBE award citation describes Sir Simon as the ‘the pre-eminent psychiatrist of his generation in the UK’. He is a leading figure in global psychiatry, and an advocate for science, education, public engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration .

This is actually a very sad indictment of the state of psychiatry. He is none of those things. I never once saw his name outside of the narrow confines of UK health politics, and of course ME/CFS and GWI, where he is a reviled figure for both communities. If this is the 'best' that psychiatry has to offer, you may as well start over from scratch.

Professor Sir Simon Wessely’s main areas of research interest have been in unexplained symptoms/syndromes, military health, epidemiology, clinical trials and how populations and people react to adversity.

His work on the first three areas is horrid. He has literally been public enemy #1 for the two patient communities, working against the patients to the benefit of systemic injustice. His clinical trials are terrible, and mental health care in the UK is a horrible mess. IAPT is a good example of what his contributions amount to, and it's a total mess that should be shut down entirely.

This is very much a political award. Medical peers should feel deep shame for being associated with any of his work. He is a good example of someone who should never have gone in medicine in the first place. More of a banker or administrator for a large corporation type, the latter of which is why he is getting another participation trophy.

Seriously, this is one of those moments where the entire system needs to look inward and ask what the hell they are even doing here. But because politics reign supreme in health care, I assume he will get a good few days of ass kissing, as bootlickers vie to elevate themselves, at whatever costs to their honor.

It'd be like honoring Elizabeth Holmes for her contributions to health technology. A moment of deep embarrassment for everyone involved. It also says a lot about why medicine is utterly incapable of progressing in those areas.

 

[Suffolkres]

Remember January 2006 Gresham College Lecture?
I sat with Malcolm Hooper...who grilled SW.
I bet GW Vets are sick to their teeth.....

Oh and Raj Persaud waxed lyrical about SW as an intro.......
Well Raj got himself into a bit of bother afterwards..

 

[V.R.T.]

"But the most important thing of all has been the privilege to work with such generous, talented and extraordinary colleagues over all these years. My thanks to each and every one of you."

Spare a thought for the patients guv?

Honestly I'd be much more offended if he had. At least he's not pretending to care about us while collecting his latest honour for throwing us to the wolves.

 

[V.R.T.]

CFS and GWI, where he is a reviled figure for both communities

Don't forget 9/11 emergency responders/survivors.

 

[rvallee]

Don't forget 9/11 emergency responders/survivors.

I'm surprised there were no reactions to the horrible Spiked article he wrote about "WTC syndrome". None that I have seen anyway. And because it was mostly discussed years ago, he wrote that 9/11 WTC illness was just a vague fear reaction to the event. It's his only pony. This pony carried him very far, despite having no legs.

For years some pwME have tried to raise the attention of John Oliver, to cover this in general on his show, but also of Jon Stewart, because of his advocacy for 9/11 survivors. Maybe they think he's just some fringe guy who happened to publish in Spiked, a right-wing rag, so they don't think it matters. Even though I'd be surprised if he wasn't at least cited as support by those who kept refusing to provide due compensation.

Which probably says a lot about how Wessely's profile framing is elevated far above his actual achievements, which as best as I can tell amount to being a good company man for powerful interests. His reputation is quite imaginary and limited. But the perks are not, so it seems worth it to him. Exploiting other people's suffering is as human as it gets, sadly. Never personal, always "just business".