Why psychological explanations for long COVID are dangerous: Blog: KevinMD

[Sly Saint]

Patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and their allies will rally in DC, London, and Edinburgh this September to “demand bold, urgent governmental action” for the millions of people living with ME, long COVID, and other infection-associated, chronic diseases.

As researchers continue to find many similarities between ME and long COVID, the history of ME offers crucial lessons for approaching long COVID and some pathways toward more effective research and care.

The primary symptoms of ME—post-exertional malaise, unrelenting fatigue, and cognitive dysfunction—also appear in many long COVID cases. In fact, preliminary studies estimate nearly half of long COVID patients meet the diagnostic criteria for ME.

Also known as ME/CFS or chronic fatigue syndrome, ME drew the Centers for Disease Control’s attention almost 40 years ago, when it was identified as a “chronic, mononucleosis-like illness” with persistent viral activity.

As more cases emerged, however, some influential scientists attributed patients’ symptoms to “dysfunctional illness beliefs.” In the following decades, the funding for ME research went largely toward psychological treatments for a physiological illness.

Studies have since found that ME patients were frequently mistreated or misdiagnosed, and often misbelieved.

I am one of those patients. Despite my professional expertise in medical rhetoric, I spent a decade shuffling between clinicians who attributed my symptoms to stress. They insisted I stop worrying and resume my usual activities.

https://www.kevinmd.com/2022/09/why-psychological-explanations-for-long-covid-are-dangerous.html

 

[BrightCandle]

The big problem with continuing to fund these Psychology based doctors is they continue doing it to ever more people. Most of my condition was caused by Covid, yet in September 2020 as I am bedbound after having had Covid in Feb 2020 and been bedbound since March Dr Chalder spent the entire video call looking for some hidden childhood trauma that was explaining why I had no energy, despite the pending ME/CFS guideline changes and the issued guidelines by the NHS on Long Covid. Not once did they even listen to my list of symptoms so convinced they were that all fatigue is caused by childhood trauma. The NHS still funds these people, every day they are doing this to more people, despite the growing massive evidence of an ME/CFS explosion and health emergency all over the world. The current estimate is 145 million worldwide, 145 million people disabled by Covid so far. Yet Dr Chalder is trying to find the childhood trauma that led to their condition. Defund these quacks already.

 

[Trish]

It's a good article, summarising succinctly the ongoing problems of BPS researchers pushing their wrong ideas and treatments on people with Long Covid as well as ME/CFS, as @BrightCandle's post above sadly illustrates.

 

[Peter T]

An excellent article that needs to be widely read.

 

[BrightCandle]

While it is possible for psychological conditions to cause physiological symptoms

Is this actually proven science? People talk about it like its the case but so many examples of this have actually resulted in being biological conditions that I am not so sure this basic statement can assumed to be proven true. I think at its heart its probably not true and if it is then its no where as prevalent as claimed and I suspect its limited in what it can practically do. I don't believe a patient can just think there way into a hormone unbalance or devastating vascular conditions, but clearly they can perceive threat and have a heightened heart rate and adrenaline for a period. I am just not convinced so far that the evidence is there for this statement to be said without qualification and also the suspicion its claimed often but unproved and unprove-able until all disease is solved and what remains is clearly thought induced. We aren't there yet, not even close.

 

[rvallee]

In the end, it's the same reason why it was bad for Alzheimer's research to be stifled by focusing on the wrong thing. It doesn't matter what that thing is, it could be psychological, astrological, or in this case proteins. The issue with focusing on the wrong thing is that it's the wrong thing. There is no explanation needed past that point.

The basis of human intelligence is adaptability: we learn, we adapt, we change. Psychosomatic medicine never changes, never adapts, it is locked in time and obsesses over the imaginary process of conversion disorder. It basically shows no adaptability, no intelligence.

If it were podiatrists insisting about some weird thing in our posture or whatever, the response would be the exact same: go away.