British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy 'Letter to the Ed' by Emma Hampson

Dolphin

Dolphin

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
From Chronic Living Therapy newsletter

BACP 'Letter to the Ed'

A former therapist, Emma Hampson, has had a letter published in the BACP members' magazine, Therapy Today.

Emma's letter was sent in response to the article on therapy and chronic ill health we have written about before. Here's a flavour of her letter:

"It confused me to see what had begun as an article showing concern about the psychologisation of chronic illness to then switch to an interest in the psychologisation of ME.

My confusion compounded when the piece warns therapists that 'unconscious ableist beliefs often due to a lack of education, can harm clients even when subtly expressed'.

I was experiencing the very thing the article was warning against happening to me (as I read). The article interviewed two people who recovered from ME but none who hadn't, even though the recovery rate is 5%-10%."

Read complete letter from Emma Hampson (pdf) https://chroniclivingtherapy.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/EmmaHampsonLetter2EdTTJournal.pdf

Click to expand...
 
Dolphin said:
From Chronic Living Therapy newsletter

BACP 'Letter to the Ed'

A former therapist, Emma Hampson, has had a letter published in the BACP members' magazine, Therapy Today.

Emma's letter was sent in response to the article on therapy and chronic ill health we have written about before. Here's a flavour of her letter:

"It confused me to see what had begun as an article showing concern about the psychologisation of chronic illness to then switch to an interest in the psychologisation of ME.

My confusion compounded when the piece warns therapists that 'unconscious ableist beliefs often due to a lack of education, can harm clients even when subtly expressed'.

I was experiencing the very thing the article was warning against happening to me (as I read). The article interviewed two people who recovered from ME but none who hadn't, even though the recovery rate is 5%-10%."

Read complete letter from Emma Hampson (pdf) https://chroniclivingtherapy.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/EmmaHampsonLetter2EdTTJournal.pdf
Click to expand...
That last line is a powerful point that we should remember and perhaps work up

It certainly seems that at the moment the wellness gurus and bps etc are trying to sell to laypersons and new patients the idea that 'the way forward is to listen to those who recover [only]' and said in a way as if it makes complete sense and you hear terrifyingly so many people then parrot it to people who have had this a long time and struggled through careers and so on to their face with no pause to think at all about what the actual meaning of what they are saying is (which is pure bigotry, silencing and very nasty under a facade of inferring it is common sense to those too naive to realise these stats and how those saying it intend to 'censor who counts as recovered' and so on - declared nonsense of 'intentions' sorry doesn't count anymore given that's the claim under which so much rights is skirted and harm is justified to be repeat ie 'inappaopriate access is just handed over and accountability is shirked for outcomes and repeating them'.)

but without any checks regarding what they had - a tricky one given there is an issue regarding that technical difficulty of 'if you have it for a year' given the whole if getting the right advice and situation then there is that 'if given the right conditions in that first 3yrs' type window that seems to exist and the whole is it PVFS or ME/CFS in the first year and within that at what point does it click over for the purposes of 'recovered' rather than it being important the right support is given so people are fortunate enough not to end up in ME/CFS etc... you know the complexity that needs to be summarised into something shorter but a heck of a lot more nuanced and specific.

It seems even less justifiable when you imagine the context is counselling and psychotherapy to only have letters from those recovered?
 
Last edited:
In the NB from Emma:
After being given the opportunity to shorten my letter myself to the required word count, the editor then made very minor edits to edit it to their ‘house style’. But she also added one line: ‘I feel the article could have added more balance by giving voice to experiences like mine, of which there are many‘. I wish the editor had not added this line. With all the biomedical evidence for ME, and considering its political history, it should no longer be a matter of there being different sides to ME which deserve an equal voice, instead we should follow the science.
Click to expand...
That’s seriously out of line by the editor.
 
Utsikt said:
In the NB from Emma:

That’s seriously out of line by the editor.
Click to expand...
The current situation in terms of who has the power to shape care and public understanding is not 'balanced' in the slightest. It is weighted almost entirely towards what is the MECFS equivalent of climate change denial.

The idea that we should be 'fair' by giving equal standing to the people who want to erase our experience and put us through harmful 'care' is ludicrous. Just look to America if you want to see what that kind of appeasement leads to.
 
MrMagoo said:
I’ve seen it happen in broadsheets, it’s quite common
Click to expand...
I've had dozens of letters published in broadsheets. Sometimes letters can be shortened but I've never come across an editor add a sentence.

As an aside, I started sending in different versions of the same letter of different lengths to make it easier for them to pick something that fit their space. It seemed to work quite well in terms of getting published.
 
Kalliope said:
Here is the article Emma Hampson responded to

The big issue: The silent fight

Open article: Lucy McDonald investigates how therapists can support the rising numbers living with chronic illness. Therapy Today, September 2025.
www.bacp.co.uk www.bacp.co.uk
Click to expand...
I've just read this article. It's long and quotes all sorts of people's theories. It starts quite well suggesting what I would call a counselling approach to therapy where listening and understanding are central. And lots about the importance of not psychologising physical illnesses.

But it goes off into a wierd direction where suddenly brain training nonsense is promoted, naming specifically the Gupta and Curable programs on the basis of a single individual's claims of cure with each. That is so irresponsible and destroys the credibility of the whole article. I note that the person cited as 'cured' from ME/CFS using Curable is Fiona Symington, who is reported as now doing a psychology PhD. Heaven help us.

This makes the Emma Hampson letter this thread is about even more important. I hope readers, especially the author of this article, will reflect on the harm they can do.
 
Trish said:
I've just read this article. It's long and quotes all sorts of people's theories. It starts quite well suggesting what I would call a counselling approach to therapy where listening and understanding are central. And lots about the importance of not psychologising physical illnesses.

But it goes off into a wierd direction where suddenly brain training nonsense is promoted, naming specifically the Gupta and Curable programs on the basis of a single individual's claims of cure with each. That is so irresponsible and destroys the credibility of the whole article. I note that the person cited as 'cured' from ME/CFS using Curable is Fiona Symington, who is reported as now doing a psychology PhD. Heaven help us.

This makes the Emma Hampson letter this thread is about even more important. I hope readers, especially the author of this article, will reflect on the harm they can do.
Click to expand...
Agreed. It's interesting if it is the case that Emma's letter is in the BCAP magazine but the original was the Big Issue ie more 'general press' - was it also published or linked to from BCAP or 'the industry'? (scrap that one as an ME moment - I can see the original was in the BACP but was titled 'the Big Issue: xxx' :rofl:

It is also interesting insight from her on the 'process' as she as a professional tried to respond etc.

Lucy Macdonald the author of article seems to have been a journalist first for many years, and then more recently trained in mental health as a professional . Does a podcast on PANS/PANDAS but I haven't looked into any detail on that. Theoretically in a different world you'd say it would be an important person to educate but...

and I can imagine that will be what those on the bps side and many others would have also thought.

No idea whether eg someone like Fiona was 'offered/easy to find/the connection was via curable (and how that idea came up or was the idea that started the article given the title etc)' or they already knew each other by other means or relationships etc

I might be wrong but have that sense of hearing Fiona mention things other than curable over the years I won't guess at them but certainly feels her name crops up a lot over the years somewhat inavoidably due to articles and/or other things.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom