I wrote something with the intent of sending it to the Guardian, but now I'm looking at their Corrections and Complaints I'm not sure where it would fit. It's not precise enough for a letter and I don't think I'd want to expose myself to these people with no organisation for cover. So while I think about it, I'll post it here -
Letter from Professors Peter White, Michael Sharpe and Trudie Chalder
https://www.theguardian.com/society...view-of-illness-doesnt-help-those-with-me-cfs
I suppose the PACE authors, Professors White, Chalder and Sharpe are entitled to right-of-reply to George Monbiot's excellent article -
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...eve-bothby-oneill-me-chronic-fatigue-syndrome
but was it necessary to add a letter expressing the same point of view from a therapist trying to drum up business? I think not, just as it wasn't necessary to publish a piece by Alastair Miller during the Maeve Boothby O'Neill inquest calling for a "compromise", i.e. sticking to the paradigm that led to her death.
As George Monbiot explains in this interview with actor and ME sufferer Jennie Jacques, his article took a long time to write because it involved a lot of research and fact checking -
but the biopsychosocial proponents don't provide any facts, just continue to reiterate that their theories are evidence-based without engaging with the substantial flaws in their work exposed by the NICE Technical Committee, academics and other commentators.
White, Sharpe and Chalder say But this new Nice guidance is contested, being based on a flawed review and interpretation of the evidence, as shown by
an analysis by us and 48 other international experts.
This,
https://jnnp.bmj.com/content/94/12/1056 wasn't an analysis, just a letter with numerous signatories restating their position. That they haven't withdrawn or revised their flawed work, nor have the journals on whose editorial boards they or their colleagues sit or have sat only underlines the power imbalance revealed in George Monbiot's article. We patients hope the day is coming soon when no publications feel the need to defer to the opinions of flat earthers.