Trial By Error: CBT and Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Trial By Error: My Letter to Professor Moss-Morris

http://www.virology.ws/2020/02/03/trial-by-error-my-letter-to-professor-moss-morris/

 

I'm really curious to see reactions in the IBS and IBD community, professionals and patients. I would expect the IBD experts to be outraged by this but at this point I don't even know if reality matters anymore.

Surprised there hasn't been much. This stuff here is touting some almost miracle treatment. Not that people should take the claims seriously but the fact that people are making those claims with powerful institutional backing should get some reaction at some point.

 

This is surely false advertising? CBT is not used to treat MS. At best, it's a management therapy. I'm sure most medical groups would say the same thing (that a management approach is not a treatment).

 

clinically and cost-effective treatments

If I am not mistaken it is a direct quote from the NICE protocol for its guidelines - in which case the fault lies in the first place with NICE but in the second place with someone happy to use a meaningless phrase just because it is regulation requirements.

 

Yes. I wonder if it would be within the remit of advertising standards? Could the literature it appeared in be classed as advertising?

 

What is its purpose if not to convince of the worth of the product? Sounds like advertising to me.

 

It does look like "treatment" and "treated" are also part of the words that have been redefined to fit BPS needs.

Wessely did say he "treated" thousands of ME patients. Which means nothing more than he saw those patients, whoever they are. So by very loose definition of the word, it looks like "treated" merely means a "treatment" was applied, not that it did anything.

This is the essence of the behavioral paradigm where many are considered "treated" of CFS because they did CBT or GET. All it means is they went through it, that's been an accepted standard for years by now. It's a terrible standard but it has precedent to point to for a weasely, no pun intended, lawyer who will insist they never meant anyone was successfully treated, just that they went through some treatment.

 

yes but they're not offering it yet. it's like they're branding it before they intend to launch it.

 

yes, I assume they will. but does the advertising standards agency get involved at this stage, when it is not yet available to anybody?

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1222478515012018176

https://twitter.com/user/status/1221504374599553024

 

You couldn't make it up!!

 

In a sense isn't that just what they're doing!?

 

Just imagine! Walk into a doctors room with ME and who should be sitting in the chair but Wessely.

Oh what a treat!!

 

It might be interesting to hear what his views now are. I think he has suggested that he would now express himself in different terms. As he would need to.

 

The Emperor’s New Clothes - Hans Christian Anderson

How do worksheets and ‘challenging negative thoughts’ help IBS?

I had an idea about the worksheets but .......

 

He could do this any day. Never has, never will. Literally nothing is preventing him other than the fact that he badly does not want to.

 

So this ACTIB thing is going to become the basis for the IAPT and NHS documentation on IBS (and IBD?) the same way PACE did for ME. Similarly, it's not even a linear process, the evidence is made up at the same time as it is applied into practice and internal training.

I really love the "evidence base" for the BPS model shown, from the mid-90's no less, is literally just 3 bubbles with labels and no specific anything. You could put anything in those bubbles and it would be just as valid.

And this is just pure insanity, you could replace "greater perfectionism" with literally any pseudoscientific concept and it works just the same. Could be karma, spiritual energy, thetans, whatever, makes no difference:
https://twitter.com/user/status/1222777575149314048


And the head of the NHS was talking about the danger of Goop? Good grief.