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Apologies that this is rather off topic but it arises from my researches relating to the matter and I hope it will be accepted as a brief aside, as the matter seems important. I never had much regard for the models of ME proposed by Wessely or Sharpe, but thought their reviews of the literature...

I think you sum up well what I have seen so far, but I also only received it today, and need to reread. I keep looking for the references which drew Abbey's attention but have not found anything particular. There is a moderation of the tone towards support groups. It is not clear whether the...

I presume Gunderson does not have ME. I climbed and descended Galdhopiggen when I was about 10, and can assure him that "PEM" is nothing like the sensation one gets from climbing that or bigger mountains.

I think there may be a misunderstanding. I failed to make it clear that the correspondence concerned potential recognition by the DWP in 1993. SW and PW proffered apparently unsolicited advice upon the subject, so this was all at about the same time as the issues relating to patient support groups.

It is not really surprising. Who was it who said: I also feel that this decision (to list CFS/ME under "other neurological disorders"), if it has been made, reflects an undesirable stigmatisation of psychiatric disorders. The main difference between CFS and the major psychiatric disorders is...

I am fairly sure that in my recent readings I have seen the argument that exercise had been shown to be beneficial for fibromyalgia therefore it must be good for ME. From such tenuous foundations did the GET for ME religion commence. I think it might have been Edwards- the other one

"The links with ME are obvious, since it is now regularly stated that ME is 'caused by'(Wilkinson, 1988) or 'the result of (Shepherd, 1989 a) a virus. The description preferred in the scientific literature, ' postviral' fatigue, confirm current views on aetiology. Fatigue toxin has not...

I have difficulty in understanding this comment by Wessely and Powell: The role of infection in the pathogenesis of chronic fatigue remains obscure. Certainly the majority of CFS patients felt their illness had commenced with a virus (54% were members of the ME Association). J Neurol Neurosurg...

It seems that Goldberg was Professor of Psychiatry at the Withington Hospital, Manchester.

One aspect of this which I have just noticed is that Goldberg, a co-author of such egregious nonsense, was a "scientific editor" along with Behan and Mowbray of that British Medical Bulletin edition. The fact that he was from the "Mental Illness Research Unit" (EDIT to make sense) tells us...

I used to climb with someone who said he couldn't distinguish left and right and consequently wore different coloured socks. Advice from me, safely ensconced as the second on the rope, had to be given in terms of the colour of the sock.

I hope to have the book shortly thanks to Amazon's second hand book dealers. I will report back in due course.

"I will respect, support and give gratitude to my teachers, colleagues and all those who sustain the NHS." Translates as "Whistleblowing will not be tolerated".

Closer study of the dates of the various articles previously quoted tends to absolve Sharpe of primary responsibility for the statement. The Abbey article published in 1993 was delivered at a conference between 12-14 May 1992. The Sharpe paper referred to is also dated 1992. However the...

Not our fault. Blame the doctors. I was told that there was no treatment and advised to join the MEA and await developments. Thirty odd years later I am still waiting. This question of support groups shows either a certain naivety on the part of Sharpe et al or a cynical use of language on...

I apologise. I ceased my reading of the Abbey paper, referred to above, too soon-but there is only so much one can do in the call of duty. At p247 there is a paragraph entitled "The role of patient support groups" which it is probably necessary to quote in full if an understanding is to be...

"Sharpe et al (1992) in a prospective study of patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis seen in an infectious diseases clinic find that attributing the causes of ongoing symptomatology to solely physical causes, and participation in an ME support group, are independent predictors of ongoing...

"Furthermore, the patients' illness behaviour is likely to be perpetuated by adhering strictly to the advice given by the powerful self-help group, the "M.E. Society" (sic), which advocates total rest." Psychiatric Perspectives: An Overview TO Woods DP Goldberg British Medical Bulletin (1991)...

I am sure that this goes back to 1989 or 1990. I will start looking.

For anyone interested it might be worth trying to find something about the research behind this Daily Mail article suggesting that EBV following an earlier threadworm infection might be a cause of MS. It looks like they are considering the predisposing factor and the triggering factor. This...