Simon Wessely: more sinning than sinned against

[Roy S]

from the blog:
"Wessely has a lot to answer for, and the elements in the ME community that are hostile to him are not fringe cranks but mainstream patient advocacy organisations"

"The press has exposed an ‘expert’ who has caused enormous suffering with dubious science in the recent past, regardless of his titles and the letters after his name; they should stop airing Wessely’s evasions and circumlocutions and his tales of persecution and ask him the serious questions about the holes in his theories which are obvious to the patient community."

"I saw a number of my friends in the disability community, including ME sufferers, retweet some of the above tweets from Dr Christian Jessen and reply to them. Dr Christian, as he is commonly known, is a TV doctor who is perhaps best known for appearing on the Channel 4 series Embarrassing Bodies. I commented when I saw this that it was typical of a privileged person criticising the "tone" of an oppressed person protesting or showing distress, a common allegation made by race or gender activists — that they are told they should not be so angry, or some such thing. For him to express pleasure at Wessely’s knighthood and then accuse ME sufferers of "snapping" at him shows that he does not have the first clue about what they are suffering, which often includes abusive or dismissive treatment by the medical profession as well as the intense suffering the illness itself can cause."
http://www.blogistan.co.uk/blog/mt.php/2013/01/01/simon-wessely-more-sinning-than-sinned-against
　

 

[Valentijn]

A rather long blog post, but well worth reading.

The bit from the patient referred to Wessely's team was especially interesting.

 

[snowathlete]

If Dr Christian thinks that Wesley-like treatment is the way forward (not that his statement of admiration for Wesley necesarily equals this) then we dont want him 'helping' us anyway, so good if he is put off gettting involved.

On the whole, people who want to get involved in helping us who are looking for physiological causes and treatment get great support from the ME community. The only people who get abuse (if that is the right word) are those who actually have nothing to offer us but trouble and steps backward.

 

[Roy S]

There is a lot in that blog that I like. I wonder if people who are not exceptionally familiar with the situation believe it.

 

[Valentijn]

If Dr Christian thinks that Wesley-like treatment is the way forward (not that his statement of admiration for Wesley necesarily equals this) then we dont want him 'helping' us anyway, so good if he is put off gettting involved.

On the whole, people who want to get involved in helping us who are looking for physiological causes and treatment get great support from the ME community. The only people who get abuse (if that is the right word) are those who actually have nothing to offer us but trouble and steps backward.

Agreed. I don't object to BPS research per se, but when the message they're sending out is that perpetuation of ME/CFS is entirely psychosocial, that we shouldn't have symptoms investigated or treated, that CBT is the only effective treatment, and that GET can be presumed safe ... well, then we have a problem. A BIG problem.

 

[snowathlete]

How would cancer suffers or those with HIV react if people said the sort of things Wesley says about ME / CFS and they got a knighthood? I think they would be a lot more vocal about it than we have been!

In the future, at some point, the cause of ME / CFS will be found and proven beyond doubt and though Wesley will no doubt get to keep his Knighthood, his views and those of his supporters will be forever disproven and that will be permenantly on their record.

 

[peggy-sue]

How old is the weasel?
Our only hope it seems, is to wait for the grim reaper to take him.
But I'd bet even the grim reaper doesn't want him.
Maybe the he'll take me instead?
Frankly, I'm almost beyond caring - as long as he takes one or t'other of us.

 

[Sparrow]

Very good article. Well put. Thank you for sharing it.

 

[MishMash]

How would cancer suffers or those with HIV react if people said the sort of things Wesley says about ME / CFS and they got a knighthood? I think they would be a lot more vocal about it than we have been!

In the future, at some point, the cause of ME / CFS will be found and proven beyond doubt and though Wesley will no doubt get to keep his Knighthood, his views and those of his supporters will be forever disproven and that will be permenantly on their record.

You mean this guy got the same honor as Paul McCartney and Elton John? His body of work compares to theirs? Absurd. I can only think the Queen has loosened the standards.

 

[biophile]

How old is the weasel?
Our only hope it seems, is to wait for the grim reaper to take him.
But I'd bet even the grim reaper doesn't want him.
Maybe the he'll take me instead?
Frankly, I'm almost beyond caring - as long as he takes one or t'other of us.

Wessely is about 56 years old, which is old enough to have seen the rise of his hypothesis, but still young enough to be the witness to the decline of his hypothesis, as it is better exposed to scientific skepticism before or during the retirement years? So I wish Wessely a long life, "may he live in interesting times".