College of Medicine conference

[Jenny]

Did anyone go to this yesterday, in London?

I'm told Wessely seems to have changed his mind about a few things.

I'd like to know what Andrew Flower said - I used to have acupuncture and Chinese herbs from him.

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College of Medicine

Education Programme
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME an integrated approach (London)
CPD Suite, Queen Mary University, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS
Wednesday, 18th January 2012
What's the way forward for this condition which sometimes takes years to diagnose?
Do you have first hand experience of this often misunderstood syndrome?
Would you like to find out different approaches to ease the symptoms?
Recent studies from the University of Bristol highlight the costs of chronic fatigue syndrome/ME to the country, the families of sufferers and the sufferers themselves.
There are huge delays in making the assessment and in getting treatment because of the stigma attached to the illness, the reluctance of GPs and other healthcare professionals to diagnose and give a management plan, and the lack of specialist services. There are effective treatments available but too few sufferers get anywhere near the right approach to their problems, let alone correct treatment.
Come to this one-day facilitated workshop to learn more about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME (CFS/ME) and treatment pathways.

The workshop will cover:
? What are the different approaches to care for this illness?
? How to access different care pathways
? Good care for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME
? Traditional Chinese Medicine and chronic fatigue
? Self-care is there more you and your family could do?
? There is hope -- a first hand perspective on recovery from CFS/ME


The workshop is for:
? Healthcare professionals, complementary therapists, patients, carers, students

Fees

Workshop cost
Student price College of Medicine Members
50
25 Non - Members
60
30

Booking
Click here or go to http://members.collegeofmedicine.eu/courses/chronicfatigue to book online or download a booking form.
Places limited and are allocated on a first come first served basis.


Chronic Fatigue an Integrated Perspective (London) | 18 January 2012

Programme

9:30 9:50 Welcome and Registration
9:50 10:00 Overview of the day
10:00 11:00 Presentation
Overview of Chronic Fatigue: Professor Simon Wessely
Vice Dean, Academic Psychiatry, Teaching and Training: Institute of Psychiatry
Head, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry
Director, Kings Centre for Military Health Research, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London
11:00 11:15 Question time
11:15 11:30 Refreshments
11:30 12:30 Group Discussion
Integrative approach to care how could this work in my area of practice
12:30 13:15 Lunch
13:15 14:00 Table Discussion
Sharing and caring
14:00 14:20 Presentation
Traditional Chinese Medicine and fatigue: Dr Andrew Flower
Complementary medicine research Group, University of Southampton
14:20 14:40 Presentation
Self care for Chronic Fatigue: Professor David Peters
Clinical Director, School of Life Sciences, University of Westminster
14:40 15:00 Presentation and Discussion
A first hand perspective on recovery from severe CFS/ME
A recovered patient
15:00 15:15 Question time
Facilitated discussion with Dr Andrew Flower and a recovered patient.
15:15 15:45 Group Work
Reflection - In light of further information do I need to amend my plan
15:45 16:00 Discussion on Learning outcomes. Summary and Close

 

[Esther12]

If he's not making grovelling apologies, he's not changed enough. Still interested to hear any reports on this though. Conference transcripts tend to be more revealing than peer reviewed papers.

Ta Jenny.

 

[SOC]

If he's not making grovelling apologies, he's not changed enough. Still interested to hear any reports on this though. Conference transcripts tend to be more revealing than peer reviewed papers.

Ta Jenny.

Not changed enough for us, certainly. But if he manages to change the spin just enough in an advantageous (to him) direction, it may be enough for the authorities and general public not to demand the booting of his sorry butt out of the field.

 

[ukxmrv]

Wessely always pretends to have changed. That's why they are called "weasel words".

 

[alex3619]

Something I am only now beginning to understand: we see the pyschosomatic stuff on ME, and focus on that. What I was not aware of is just how much of an attack there is on the whole concept of pscychosomatic medicine. It is one of the last bastions of Freudian doctrine. Its not us who are leading the charge ... its other psychiatrists. I intend writing a few blogs on this in the next couple of weeks/months. Bye, Alex

 

[Sean]

What I was not aware of is just how much of an attack there is on the whole concept of pscychosomatic medicine. It is one of the last bastions of Freudian doctrine. Its not us who are leading the charge ... its other psychiatrists. I intend writing a few blogs on this in the next couple of weeks/months. Bye, Alex

Look forward to them.

One useful source of evidence against psychosomatism is a series of Cochrane meta-analyses from Hrbjartsson and Gtzsche of studies that measured the clinical impact of the placebo effect.

From the summary in their most recent paper:

"We did not find that placebo interventions have important clinical effects in general."

The possible exceptions being small effects for pain and nausea, and even there it is not clear if that effect is real or just an artefact of the methodologies used in the primary studies:

"However, in certain settings placebo interventions can influence patient-reported outcomes, especially pain and nausea, though it is difficult to distinguish patient-reported effects of placebo from biased reporting."

[Hrbjartsson A, Gtzsche PC. Placebo interventions for all clinical conditions. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2010, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD003974. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD003974.pub3. PMID: 20091554]

The placebo effect (and its putative mirror image form, the nocebo effect, which is the proposed causal mechanism in the psychogenic interpretation of CFS), is the basis of the psychosomatic response. But if they have no or only minimal clinical effect, then the existence of psychosomatism itself (or at least its importance to human health) is up for debate.

And given, as far as I can see, that psychosomatism is one of the core claims and pillars of psychiatry, then it seems to me they are in serious trouble over this.

I don't think the implications of this work have really started to sink into the medical community yet.