Let us discuss 'critical thinking' because this is something which is applied, or should be, by those who have the highest qualifications, i.e., doctors. In order to research you have to be able to critically analyse and also be objective, of course this also means ourself in order to remove our own bias from the subject we are researching.
This is sometimes difficult when people have been ill for a long time because they bring thier own biases into the things they report.
Doctors even critically analyse each other's work, after all that is what researchers are taught to do. I think one of the issues we ill people have is that we tend to want to sometimes lash out at others who present ideas, experiences, theories, etc., and maybe tell them what they suggest is insulting to us whilst actually it is not, it's just an idea or thery for discussion and to be critically analysed.
Let us discuss this thing called 'evidence' and get rid of the myth that many people seem keep alive. Let us say that Me Sci were to tell me that she had a pain in her muscle, i.e., her brain was registering a pain, she would not be able to offer any peer reviewed scientific evidence at all to prove she had that pain. Therefore if I were to always ask for evidence then of course I would have to conclude the pain was a figment of her imagination.
Rather like ME/CFS, yes it's all a figment of the imagination, or is it! Funny how we who are often accused of making up our illness often then often ask everyone else for evidence for many things they suggest.
It's good to ask for evidence of course but let's not forget that sometimes we just need to be open minded and discuss things through and see where we end up. We landed on the moon because someone had the initial idea; the evidence for it did not exist until we had made the idea work. People made that idea work by working together as a team, drawing on each others strengths.
Now my point is that Me Sci knows 100% and without any doubt that she has this pain and therefore she knows something to be true that the outside world cannot prove either way. Now let us say that philpot was then to say 'hey guys' Me Sci has a pain in her muscle. Again I would have no peer reviewed scientific proof and yet Me Sci would know 100% and without any doubt that I was 100% correct about something which I had no evidence for.
My point is that it is perfectly possible and reasonable for someone to be 100% correct about something even though they cannot provide peer reviewed science/evidence to back it up. So on the basis that there is no peer reviewed science which states without any doubt what is the cause of ME/CFS or else what the solution is then all the theories and ideas etc., proposed by all people in these forums could be 100% correct, we do not know.
If everytime we who are often accused of inventing our illness start going on about evidence we should remember two things:
1. We may well be asked to provide the scientific peer reviewed evidence to prove we are ill.
2. We may just snub out the idea/theory which may have otherwise ended up leading to the road to our cure.
I am all about hearing people's ideas and theories and discussing them openly and honestly and collectively and without thowing my dummy out of the pram or prentending to be offended or insulted just because someone suggests something may be in my mind; because this also needs to be explored and discussed.
I am also not about asking for peer reviewed science on everything because this is an area where the science thus far does not amount to much. It may be our discussion which develops the evidence and this will not happen if we 'shout' people down.
Also for each of us when we try something ourselves in order to improve our lives so we need to think critically about the other things which may be happening and which may have instead improved things, we need to be careful about this because otherwise we may ourselves miss the thing which actually helped because we were blinded by the particular thing we were trying.
Regards.
This is sometimes difficult when people have been ill for a long time because they bring thier own biases into the things they report.
Doctors even critically analyse each other's work, after all that is what researchers are taught to do. I think one of the issues we ill people have is that we tend to want to sometimes lash out at others who present ideas, experiences, theories, etc., and maybe tell them what they suggest is insulting to us whilst actually it is not, it's just an idea or thery for discussion and to be critically analysed.
Let us discuss this thing called 'evidence' and get rid of the myth that many people seem keep alive. Let us say that Me Sci were to tell me that she had a pain in her muscle, i.e., her brain was registering a pain, she would not be able to offer any peer reviewed scientific evidence at all to prove she had that pain. Therefore if I were to always ask for evidence then of course I would have to conclude the pain was a figment of her imagination.
Rather like ME/CFS, yes it's all a figment of the imagination, or is it! Funny how we who are often accused of making up our illness often then often ask everyone else for evidence for many things they suggest.
It's good to ask for evidence of course but let's not forget that sometimes we just need to be open minded and discuss things through and see where we end up. We landed on the moon because someone had the initial idea; the evidence for it did not exist until we had made the idea work. People made that idea work by working together as a team, drawing on each others strengths.
Now my point is that Me Sci knows 100% and without any doubt that she has this pain and therefore she knows something to be true that the outside world cannot prove either way. Now let us say that philpot was then to say 'hey guys' Me Sci has a pain in her muscle. Again I would have no peer reviewed scientific proof and yet Me Sci would know 100% and without any doubt that I was 100% correct about something which I had no evidence for.
My point is that it is perfectly possible and reasonable for someone to be 100% correct about something even though they cannot provide peer reviewed science/evidence to back it up. So on the basis that there is no peer reviewed science which states without any doubt what is the cause of ME/CFS or else what the solution is then all the theories and ideas etc., proposed by all people in these forums could be 100% correct, we do not know.
If everytime we who are often accused of inventing our illness start going on about evidence we should remember two things:
1. We may well be asked to provide the scientific peer reviewed evidence to prove we are ill.
2. We may just snub out the idea/theory which may have otherwise ended up leading to the road to our cure.
I am all about hearing people's ideas and theories and discussing them openly and honestly and collectively and without thowing my dummy out of the pram or prentending to be offended or insulted just because someone suggests something may be in my mind; because this also needs to be explored and discussed.
I am also not about asking for peer reviewed science on everything because this is an area where the science thus far does not amount to much. It may be our discussion which develops the evidence and this will not happen if we 'shout' people down.
Also for each of us when we try something ourselves in order to improve our lives so we need to think critically about the other things which may be happening and which may have instead improved things, we need to be careful about this because otherwise we may ourselves miss the thing which actually helped because we were blinded by the particular thing we were trying.
Regards.
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