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It would help if they fixed those "imaginary"s. Presumably "imagery" is intended. But it is hard to be certain. Just an observation - not a criticism. We have to be cautious around "imaginary".

She was, or may still be, a psychiatrist who played a prominent part in the CIBA conference andwho held strange views on somatisation. I did not think this too important until seeing in Oslers WEb that she was involved in CDC committees that scuppered various research plans. See Somatisation...

Does that really apply if the only reason for the original illness was suggestibility leading to a false belief in illness.? Where does that leave the patient when the illness continues? We have seen that SW carried forward from mass hysteria into sporadic ME the language of abnormal illness...

Seeing the source of the paper I could not get past the memory of Professor Jan van Strabismus whom God preserve of Utrecht. I cannot imagine why.

Yes, I agree with some of the difficulties surrounding encephalitis, but I don't understand the need to add the additional layer of suggestibility, for which there is no more evidence than there is for encephalitis, when the infectious epidemic in the neighbourhood is a possible explanation of...

If suggestibility was the cause of the Royal Free "epidemic" what is proposed as the cause of the more sporadic outbreak in North West London which started before the Royal Free outbreak and finished after it (Compston 1978). What also was the cause of the Dalston outbreak occurring slightly...

There is certainly evidence from 1989 which could be considered a basis for reasonable inferences to be drawn. What standard of proof do you require? It would be a chore to dig it all out again. It would only be necessary to show the intent behind the original definition. Desire to retain as...

Did not Abbey, one of the sources of our woes, hail from Toronto General Hospital. So this should come as no surprise.

There has always been some difficulty in understanding what SW et al mean by the term "maladaptive behaviour" which, along with the dysfunctional cognitions, forms part of our illness....apparently. This section from the Hysteria paper gives a clue as to its usage. This concept is an attempt to...

It is interesting to note SW's explanation of the Royal Free as described in that paper The common feature of the stressors underlying outbreaks of mass motor hysteria is an inability on the part of the subjects either to comprehend the true nature of the threat facing them or to avoid it. On...

Quick! Someone! Get some Guidelines written for "Long-Covid".

The difficulty which this argument faces is that a number of cases were excluded from the paper on the basis that they were thought to be suffering "hysteria". This suggests that those cases and perhaps all the cases were properly assessed by a psychiatrist, better qualified than McEvedy and at...

I have discovered where Wessely made use of the concept of Abnormal Illness Behaviour, which the 1988 indicated was the replacement for Hysteria Mass hysteria will be regarded as a phenomenon with certain characteristics. First, it is an outbreak of abnormal illness behaviour that cannot be...

They even have there own, new, special therapy CAT. Cognitive Analytic Therapy. No expense spared. Although sparing expense was probably the object of the exercise.

Strangely in the paper immediately following that last one https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/2/5525/1300.full.pdf · PDF file Two School Epidemics McEvedy et al there appears to be no discussion of overbreathing as a causative factor. It seems to be all about personality factors. How...

It is interesting to reread the Moss and McEvedy paper on the Blackburn School alleged hysteria https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/2/5525/1295.full.pdf What became epidemic was a piece of behaviour consequent on an emotional state: excitement or, in the latter stages, frank fear led to...

I didn't know on which of the many threads to say this, but this is as good as any. It may, or may not, be worth pointing out that whatever it was that caused the Dalston outbreak of ME in 1955, which was considered similar in many respects to the Royal Free, it apparently affected the sense...

I disagree with that. Reference should be made to the alternative way in which the term might, in any particular instance, be intended. The word is ambiguous. The ambiguity should be explained.

That seems to be a highly misleading description. The dual use has been long recognised. It' hard to see how they can use that first "is" with a clear conscience.

Is the corollary of this that, if you were not admitted to hospital, you were never ill in the first place?