They got PDW to resign from MEGA following a heated debate…
One less psychobabbler doesn't help, when psychobabblers continue to dominate the CMRC. And PDW retired from his university at the same time, so I doubt it had anything to do with MEA.
I just think the cure for that, the thing that will debunk it, is more research.
CMRC is not funding the research which will debunk psychobabble. They're supporting Esther Crawley in obtaining funding, who has long been a leader of psychobabble research.
If the CMRC gets new people working in the field or more funding I think that will go further towards moving the accepted view away from ME being psychosomaticism despite the involvement of a couple of BPS proponents (whom I guess are tying their sails to this mast because they sense the science is moving away from them).
They're rejecting researchers who don't favor psychobabble, so the only researchers they're likely to attract are more psychobabblers. We have absolutely no need for them, and they do us a lot of harm.
I remain unconvinced that a patient group boycott would suddenly lead to the BPS crew making a public confession that their model is bunk.
So? The point is to stop supporting the model which is actively harming us, not to force a confession.
But to scientists who are only casual observers of the debate around ME but who are considering moving into the field it may feed into the unfair stereotype that this is an area of research to avoid.
This has not been the case, whatsoever. Biological ME research is flourishing like it never has before. And the biomedical researchers are often stepping up to the plate to condemn the psychobabble, the lack of transparency, and the hate speech toward patients, which is often perpetrated by the people involved in and funded by the CMRC.
Fixing the mistreatment or non-treatment of ME patients will happen through more scientific research, not less, and I do not think that we've reached a point where we can rule out all CMRC proposed research as being BPS woo.
The CMRC is not involved in scientific research. They primarily support the perpetuation of psychosocial propaganda which uses poor methodology and spinning of the results.
Patients need an MCRC (it's ME/CFS, not CFS/ME) without the psychobabble. Something with standards when it comes to research, and a real commitment to putting patients first.
I think patients also need a robust charity which does the same. MEA is unfortunately too conservative when it comes to deference to authorities.