Psychology Today Opinion piece regarding the IOM release

[taniaaust1]

That's the funniest hate piece Ive ever read about this illness.

 

[Ren]

I'm sure that this article will eventually get pulled, because it exposes the points of view of a certain lobby group.
So I've made a PDF copy for our records. See attached PDF file.

Thanks, Bob. I saved a copy too and submitted the link to http://archive.org/web/ so this piece will (hopefully) remain in easy public access. I (and someone else, according to the archive website) did the same with the piece halcyon (#17) mentioned too.

From what little I know, the only bad thing with archive.org is that it often doesn't capture comments, and I think that's a big loss. But maybe if people save screenshots of comments, they could be archived (somewhere) at Phoenix Rising?

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EDIT: Also and speaking of ignorance in media, has anyone on PR mentioned the recent KOAT debacle? Mecfsforums has kindly created and shared a transcript and video link: http://www.mecfsforums.com/index.php/topic,21970.15.html

.

 

[eafw]

I don't think they should pull this article. We need it in the public domain as evidence of what we have to put up with. It's unusual for this sort of thing to be said in full public view. Can anyone grab a copy of it before it's taken down?

archived https://archive.today/j8QN0

I would like to see it stay up in public though, and I wonder what the IOM would make of being told that they are nothing more than our lackeys and puppets.

The author seems to have quite a bit of history as one of the pro-somatisation crowd. His bio on psych today tells us a lot too

"Edward Shorter, Ph.D., author of How Everyone Became Depressed (Oxford 2013), is a social historian of medicine at the University of Toronto who has published histories of obstetrics and gynecology (Women’s Bodies), the doctor-patient relationship (Doctors and Their Patients), psychosomatic illness (From Paralysis to Fatigue), and sexuality (Written in the Flesh: A History of Desire). In 1991 he was appointed to the Faculty of Medicine as the Jason A. Hannah Professor in the History of Medicine. Since then Shorter has emerged as an internationally recognized historian of psychiatry and psychopharmacology. His publications in this evolving field include A History of Psychiatry; A Historical Dictionary of Psychiatry; and Before Prozac. In addition, his recent work includes Partnership for Excellence: Medicine at the University of Toronto and Academic Hospitals, a major history of the Faculty and its hospital affiliates (University of Toronto Press)."

 

[zzz]

I just changed a few words in the article, left out a couple of paragraphs, and posted the rest as a comment:

Psychobabble is back!

Just when you thought a stake had been driven the heart of the psychobabblers, they come roaring back, propelled this time by Dr. Edward Shorter, a writer for Psychology Today. It's a column that the psychobabblers have roped, captured, and hogtied. How Psychology Today could have let itself in for this embarrassment is a mystery. Their report is valueless, junk science at its worst.

Psychobabble came out of that whole brew of toxic beliefs about physical symptoms being all in the patient's head that arose with Freud; it became crystallized with the diagnosis “psychosomatic disorder”. Finally, the wind went out of this particular sail in 2015 when it became apparent to the psychobabblers that nobody believed they had a provable scientific theory, with any real evidence to support it.

This process was described decades ago. Nothing has changed since then in scientific terms. There have been no convincing new studies, no breakthrough findings of psychosomatic origins, nothing.

And there never will be.

But this new Psychology Today report is driven by politics, not science. And politics means bringing psychobabblers on board. But bringing psychobabblers into such a discussion is equivalent to a committee of geographers that includes members of the Flat Earth Society.

What drives this process? Psychobabblers hate seeing a diagnosis that they don't understand; they love the words, “Madame, it’s all in your head.” So, many psychobabblers moved on to other delusional illness attributions, some involving other physical diseases such as Gulf War Syndrome since they had no idea what an “immune systems" was.

But since the 1970s the psychobabblers has been clamoring for recognition as a legitimate profession. The remarkable thing is that they were able to capture this column, and capture they did: the column abounds with sexism, hate, malice and spite. The author's book is given prominent mention, while the writings of the many critics, such as all the legitimate researchers who have been working tirelessly for decades to find the cause and treatment of this illness, are not cited at all.

Another bugbear for this column is evidence based medicine, and nothing evidence-based appears in the column, filled as it is with completely unverifiable comments about delusions and somatization. But, rather than delusional somatization, what these patients have is a true physical illness, along with the unshakeable, experiential knowledge that something is wrong with their bodies rather than their minds.

 

[adreno]

Priceless, @zzz

 

[eafw]

The author seems to have quite a bit of history

Knew there'd be a connection to Wessely

http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/simon-wessely-and-all-in-the-mind.13979/

 

[Bob]

lol @zzz, brilliant! (It's even better than the original article, which I didn't think could be improved upon!)

@Valentijn, great comment

 

[Min]

I just changed a few words in the article, left out a couple of paragraphs, and posted the rest as a comment:

Superb!

 

[Sidereal]

Oh, it's Edward Shorter, a notorious psychobabbler.

 

[DanME]

I gave him his missing scientific evidence. How sad, if a PhD cannot even google the literature anymore...

 

[taniaaust1]

I'm dropping a note to their editors suggesting they pull this piece. People like this need to be knocked off their podium.

I very much hope this piece is left there as it makes the psych look so very stupid and it shows others how poorly some are towards us. As far as I see it will bring awareness to the things we face from some in that profession. Remember not all psychs are like that, many will see this and think he's an idiot.

 

[taniaaust1]

http://www.royalcollege.ca/portal/page/portal/rc/about/whatwedo

Should complaints about this hate piece by Psychiatrist Edward Shorter be made to the Royal College of Physicians and surgeons of Canada, to the University of Toronto where he is Professor, or is it just not worth it for an inimportant bigot?

No dont complain to somewhere he's a professor as they are doubtful then to do much.. put complaints to somewhere higher up, outside of his instituation.

is there some medical board there he can be cited too for unprofessional conduct?

 

[Forbin]

This is intolerable! This man has uncovered our fiendishly conceived plot to use the Office on Women's Health as a front for our efforts to plant deep cover agents within the IOM Committee - thus finally realizing our long held dream (well, long held since 2014) of seizing ultimate control of The Committee itself!

I am very disappointed to say the least, but, as you know, the C.F.S.L. does not tolerate failure. Therefore, I am convening a meeting of all section heads at the Secret CFS Lobby Lair (S.C.F.S.L.L.) high atop the Schilthorn in the Swiss Alps. There, we can "discuss" exactly who was responsible for this security failure.

RSVP & please indicate a preference for chicken [ ] or beef [ ].​

Don't disappoint me...

 

[taniaaust1]

I did a comment on that thread, maybe this article can be used to help educate others. His post is soo far over the top that it is going to attract a lot of attention even from others in his field. So lets use this opportunity to educate. Here's my comment to his article (it got posted on there right away).

"This is the kind of vile hate many very sick with ME/CFS have suffered for years.

The psychological profession has done much damage to those who have ME/CFS over the years, pushing many of us to exercise which has caused a lot of us to worsen to points we have never recovered from and then telling the patient who doesnt get better that they are doing something wrong, when this is a post exertional illness.

How does a ME/CFS patient psychologically create a situation in which ones dystolic BP ditches to zero at times or have a BP shoot up to near 200 on standing, all through orthostatic intollerance. (these are readings my doctors and hospitals have taken and I have this issue due to ME/CFS).

I end up collapsed to the point I could even sit up and need to be ambulanced to hospital quite often needing a drip due to the low blood volume I have due to ME/CFS. At times Im in hospital, about once a fortnight (I ended up there once again only last week).

Many with this illness are extemely ill. Ive in recent times been told by hospital that Im at risk of kidney failure all cause of this condition and the low blood volume and hence dehydration I get (my blood test showed that).

It's psychologists who write articles such as this one who are completely delusional.

Psychologists who have been making money out of very sick CFS patients, like the author of this article was. Psychologists due to their views we had a psychological disorder who discouraged many of us from having tests which would of shown just how sick we actually were.

I still come across doctors in the psychological field at times who believe 90% of my symptoms are in my head thou other doctors get BP readings between 0 and 197 for me. These psychologists never test and try to discourage other doctors to do so in case they encourage the ME/CFS patients "sickness beliefs".

There are several ME/CFS patients locked away in mental wards around the world currently due to the thoughts of this being a psychological disorder and that is the only reason why they are there. Brian in England, Joanne a 14 year old girl in Germany and Karina Hansen a 25yr old Danish ME/CFS patient are current examples of this. Karina now has been locked away for 2 years and has declined now to the point she cant even speak. https://www.facebook.com/JusticeForKarinaHansen/posts/845502842177841(link is external)

Unfortunately ME/CFS patients dont get better in mental wards in hospital but rather end up worst as they have a physical condition which is being ignored.

Some ME/CFS patients have acutally died due to the psychologists locking us away due to illness beliefs eg Alison Hunter in Sydney Australia

Some with ME/CFS have been locked away for years while their psychologists attempt to treat their "illness beliefs".

I hope the psychologists who have delusional beliefs about ME/CFS patients can get over these false beliefs soon and start giving appology to any patients they have had and damaged due to their biased views towards the illness.

It is time this abuse towards a very sick group of patients is stopped.

 

[Sean]

"There have been no convincing new studies, no breakthrough findings of organicity, nothing.

And there never will be."

I love the smell of self-incinerated ideologue.

What a maroon.

 

[PeterPositive]

When someone says:

There have been no convincing new studies, no breakthrough findings of organicity, nothing.
And there never will be.

it speaks volume to the attitude of the author.

There you have your scientific, bright, open-minded and caring attitude that we all seek in a medical professional.

 

[Dx Revision Watch]

Dreadful. Dreadful. Dreadful.

For reference purposes, I ordered a s/h copy of Shorter's "From Paralysis to Fatigue" from the U.S.

When it arrived, it arrived like this, with a sticker discreetly placed, lest those of a nervous disposition had a fit of the vapours:

 

[Sean]

That piece is so bad it is a caricature.

'Hi, my name is Prof Shorter, and tonight for your entertainment, I will be ritually castrating my own credibility with a rusty hacksaw blade and NO ANAESTHETIC!'

We're gonna need several shiploads of popcorn for this one.

 

[chipmunk1]

he has other "charming" articles there(((

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/how-everyone-became-depressed/201502/depression-role-women

Depression as a Role for Women?
This is totally unsurprising

By 15, the difference is dramatic. Many more girls are depressed than boys. The girls have pretty well learned the depressed role. In Hungary, fully 33 percent of the girls feel depressed by 15, as opposed to 4 percent in Austria, not because life in Hungary is so depressing for 15-year-old females but because there is something about Hungarian culture that says women are supposed to become “depressed.” These 15 year olds are merely learning the role.

His graph shows that by 15, girls are becoming young women. They understand what female behavior is all about, and one aspect of adult femininity is constant battling with “depression.

What so many young women have is a diffuse kind of non-melancholia in which they are characteristically anxious, tired much of the time, report all kinds of bodily symptoms, and tend to obsess about it. It was once called “hysteria.” Also “nerves.”

But their basic problem is not that they have a clinical affective illness but that they have learned a certain role.

seems to be just another old-school psychobabbler who can't stand the fact that his profession is slowly dying and/or becoming more scientific.

 

[Bob]

That piece is so bad it is a caricature.

Yes, that's what I was thinking... It's so bad that it seems like a parody... But it's real!