Medium April 2024: Within Four Walls: The Psychological Ideology of Post-Acute Infection Syndromes Casts a Long Shadow, Francey

Around the mid 1850s, Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis and Florence Nightingale led the way in advocating handwashing to prevent infections, yet it took over a century for their practices to gain widespread acceptance. Meanwhile, John Snow challenged prevailing beliefs about cholera transmission, contending that it was through contaminated water rather than foul odours. However, it wasn’t until nearly three decades later until this revelation was definitively confirmed.

There were other times when the medical field made significant mistakes, especially in believing mental issues caused physical illnesses. For example, Parkinson’s tremors were once believed to come from suppressed desires, and multiple sclerosis was known as hysterical paralysis until they invented the CAT scan machine. More recently, it was believed that stress caused stomach ulcers, until it was proven that a bacteria called Helicobacter pylori was the real cause.

Even today, some in the medical field stick to old ideas resisting scientific advances. A prime example of this is blaming psychological factors for chronic disease processes triggered by post-acute infections.

https://amandafrancey.medium.com/within-four-walls-cb0a68319f3d

 

Am not up to reading the entire thing, but the excerpt looks promising.