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ME is no more 'in the mind'

than Multiple Sclerosis.

When is the world

going to get that?

(Poulton, Daily Mail).

 

 

 

 


 

In haar blog voor de Daily Mail neemt Sonia Poulton het op voor ME/CVS-patiënten.

Dit deed zij eerder in het voorjaar van 2012 in haar artikel All in the mind? Why critics are wrong to deny the existence of chronic fatigue, waarin zij 12 mythen aan de kaak stelt.

 

Haar artikel staat haaks op een recent artikel in de Daily Mail met de misleidende titel: Viruses 'are not to blame for ME': Study rules out old theory 'once and for all' en

de blog van Michael Hanlon, die er niet voor schroomt de tweede wereldoorlog en de vivisectie er bij te halen om ME/CVS-"activisten" af te schilderen als "fanatici" en "terroristen".

 

De kwaliteit van zijn argumentatie laat zich samenvatten in twee citaten uit zijn artikel:

 

What does it matter whether ME is caused by a virus, a faulty gene,

a psychiatric issue or an errant immune system?

 

ME is probably a mental illness after all - but that does not mean that it is not real

 

 


 

 

 

ME is no more 'in the mind' than Multiple Sclerosis.

When is the world going to get that?

 

19 September 2012 9:03 PM

 

Ever since I first wrote on the subject of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis - or to afford it a more user-friendly title, ME - earlier this year for MailOnline, I have been overwhelmed by the response from patients and their loved ones.

 

...

 

[T]he way patients have been portrayed is grossly wrong and that injustice must be recognised as such.

 

In my experience, they are anything but cranks or victims but people who have simply waited too long to have the truth of their experience recognised.

 

....

 

In short, much of the media misunderstood the Lipkin study findings. Partly because some reports jumped-the-gun and took information from rumours and speculation rather than wait for the official announcement. But, it also occurred because the mis-information fed into already-established prejudices.

 

....

 

Yesterday's announcement – that ME was not a result of the XMRV virus – seemed to herald, to some, the idea that ME is not the result of any virus but is, in fact, a psychological condition.

 

....

 

Many ME sufferers like Dr. Shepherd have little doubt that their illness was triggered by one of these viruses. The problem has been getting it recognised and appropriately treated.

 

This is poor response, certainly, and even more so when you factor in that the World Health Organisation acknowledged it as a neurological condition over 30 years ago, then it becomes more than a little alarming.

 

But there have been powerful forces at play that have served to maintain the status quo on ME thinking, and they have proven more than a challenge to be reckoned with.

 

For the past 60 years, the illness has been hijacked by the psychiatric community as one of 'theirs'. They have clutched ME to their collective bosom and have refused to release the iron-grasp on it.

 

...

 

As a consequence, ME patients have been failed in terms of adequate treatment and significant funds are dove-tailed into Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and, even worse, Graded Exercise – which has been shown to have a detrimental impact on the health of ME patients.

 

...

 

So yes, ME is a modern-day scandal. The way it has been portrayed is shocking.

 

...

 

 

http://poultonblog.dailymail.co.uk/2012/09/me-no-more-in-the-mind-than-multiple-sclerosis.html