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James Coyne's disappointing comment on Simon Wessely

Roy S

former DC ME/CFS lobbyist
Messages
1,376
Location
Illinois, USA
James Coyne is usually appropriately skeptical of the psych professions so it is disappointing to me that in this blog from July 9, 2014 he responds to someone suggesting Simon Wessely as a judge for a bet. (on a subject that is not about ME or CFS)

Coyne writes:
"I know Simon Wessely and know that he has had death threats over his interpretation of a trial of CBT chronic fatigue. I do not think he wants to step back into the fray late judgments about a trial of CBT for unmedicated schizophrenics."
 
Coyne put a bold graphic near the top of the blog that states:
 
DEMAND EVIDENCE AND THINK CLEARLY
 
https://jcoynester.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/
 
I wish the would apply his critical analysis skills on PACE.
 
He is on twitter at:
https://twitter.com/CoyneoftheRealm
 
Messages
73
oh thats a new one. so me / cfs sufferers are unmedicated schizophrenics?

isn't it laughable how we are pointed towards 'the evidence'...
 

chipmunk1

Senior Member
Messages
765
oh thats a new one. so me / cfs sufferers are unmedicated schizophrenics?

isn't it laughable how we are pointed towards 'the evidence'...

he made this comment in a blog post about a trial of CBT for unmedicated schizophrenia. had nothing to do with ME

so he is not calling ME sufferers 'unmedicated schizophrenics'...

rather interesting post (aside from the S.W stuff)

In my last blog post at PLOS Mind the Brain, I discussed claims by German psychoanalysts in theJournal of American Medical Association (JAMA)that long-term psychodynamic therapy was superior to shorter term therapies. One of the many things that attracted my attention to the article was a claim of an effect size of 6.9 that was unprecedented in the psychotherapy literature, certainly among peer-reviewed articles. I had intended that my next blog post would discuss reactions of critics to the JAMA article and responses from the psychoanalytic/psychodynamic community, as well as an independent attempt to replicate the meta-analysis.

However, once again my plans have been disrupted by the need — stop the press!—to respond to an article in Lancet. The last time I changed my planned order for blog posts was because a Lancet article had spun a trial with basically null results to a positive one for the treatment of anorexia. In my blog post, I showed how the Lancetanorexia paper actually demonstrated how little quite intensive treatment of women with anorexia accomplished.

This time the Lancet article concerns cognitive behavior therapy for unmedicated patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder. The abstract of the article claimed — yup!– an effect size of 6.9 [Correction prompted by Marcus in the comments 6.52] . So, I have postponed my follow-up post about long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy.
 

Roy S

former DC ME/CFS lobbyist
Messages
1,376
Location
Illinois, USA
ah I see. So its happening throughout the psychology profession...

Yes, and James Coyne has done an excellent job of debunking other studies with methodological flaws and he also says PR blitzes along with a study being published is a warning sign for him. Tom Kindlon and I have posted threads complementing him on Phoenix Rising previously. I just find it odd that Wessely apparently gets a pass.