Oliver Sacks Put Himself Into His Case Studies. What Was the Cost?

[Jaybee00]

Um I read the New Yorker article…not sure you need to.

Tldr Sacks “embellished” some of his case studies.

 

[josepdelafuente]

Hahahaha I read this as well, I thought about posting it.
I enjoyed the article. Your TLDR is very good.
Obviously I couldn't help but read it from the perspective of having ME and being angry about psychologisation of our illness, and angry about people making assertions about what's wrong with us based on nothing but "what they reckon"...
Seems like old mate Sacks did a lot of that... but also sounds like he was very kind, and very attentive to his patients.

 

[shak8]

Hmm. A story too good to be true...

 

[Jaybee00]

I think the article could have been shortened by half or two thirds.

Wish there had been more discussion about Encephalitis lethargica, which may be a disease closely related to ME/CFS.

Also does anyone really need 50 years of psychoanalysis? Maybe the psychiatrist could have pulled the plug after 30 years?

 

[Jaybee00]

Comment: The mysterious disease that inspired Awakenings is finally starting to give up some clues

The disease featured in the 1990 Robert De Niro film 'Awakenings', Encephalitis lethargica, has puzzled scientists for decades. Dr Jonathan Rogers (UCL Psychiatry) explains how his research is searching for the cause.

www.ucl.ac.uk

 

[ME/CFS Science Blog]

Hmm. A story too good to be true...

Yeah, not really a surprise, the way he romanticized his descriptions and case studies, things that were hard to confirm by others, it already gave the impression that there were many embellishments.

 

[Jaybee00]

Paywalled

 

[Utsikt]

It’s not like the reviews tend to be any better..

 

[V.R.T.]

Paywalled

Given Steven Pinker's promotion of the dangerous 'militant ME patients don't like good scientific findings' myth, I don't think he is the person to be handing out lessons in this area.

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

Pinker has always seemed to me to be the epitomy of the old saying:

Empty vessels...

 

[dave30th]

Given Steven Pinker's promotion of the dangerous 'militant ME patients don't like good scientific findings' myth,

when did he say this?

 

[V.R.T.]

when did he say this?

I saw it quoted on Bluesky the other day iirc. I think it was a screenshot of a twitter post. Pinker sharing an article about 'patient activists' harassing CFS researchers etc. If I find it again I'll link it.

 

[Laurie P]

when did he say this?

nitter for people not on X

https://nitter.net/sapinker/status/1155887249608851456?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1155887249608851456|twgr^|twcon^s1_&ref_url=

The Pinker tweet starts on page 3 of this thread.

Thread 'Psychology Today blog - The Dark Side of Social Media Activism in Science, 2019, S. Camarata'

Jul 23, 2019

Moved from this thread

Thought this was posted here already but I can't find it.

So why are Dr. Sharpe and other clinical-translation researchers seeking to discover treatments to reduce the debilitating symptoms of CFS/ME being harassed and bullied? The leaders of the social activism movement, aimed at Dr. Sharpe, claim that studying the effects of “psychological” approaches to CFS/ME such as cognitive behavior therapy, behavioral interventions, and exercise imply that CFS/ME is psychosomatic and therefore not a real medical condition. They also argue that...

• Andy
• activism article blog camarata me/cfs psychology
• Replies: 97
• Forum: Psychosomatic news - ME/CFS and Long Covid

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