Dr David Tuller: Addresses new paper from the UK: CBT developed for ME aka Hypochondriasis

[Countrygirl]

https://www.virology.ws/2020/07/02/...MZF5Ru6bW5c0izZmp_dPp5Am8kHebqoQco5TOshjl-ywo

This rubbish had steam coming out of my ears this morning. Quite ruined my early morning coffee! When will these people comprehend the blindingly obvious........? They should stop playing at being scientists and take a job more commensurate with their academic abilities............fruit pickers are desperately needed in the fields at the moment and supermarkets need shelf stackers and packers.

Thank you once again to the wonderful Dr David Tuller for calling out this rubbish.

Here is a snippet.......if you can stand it:

If you can't, they are accusing us of hypochondriasis and by treating our anxiety about our miss-interpretation of our normal bodily functions with CBT, we will be normal again.

Of course, this little gem was a product of the academics of Bristol and Oxford. (Embarrassing! On behalf of the UK, may I apologise to the world for the rubbish they produce? )

Trial By Error: Now There’s CBT for ‘Health Anxiety’ in CFS

2 JULY 2020

By David Tuller, DrPH

In late December, the International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology published an article called “Prevalence and treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and co-morbid severe health anxiety.” This paper, from investigators at the University of Bath and Oxford University, actually included two separate studies documenting the purported relationship between a construct called “health anxiety” and CFS/ME, as the investigators currently refer to the illness in question.

The first study described in the paper is a cross-sectional survey of health anxiety and symptoms in CFS/ME patients. (An acknowledged limitation of cross-sectional data is that they document associations only and do not provide evidence of causation.) The second study described in the paper involves the delivery of a specialized treatment—a cognitive behavior therapy approach that addresses health anxiety, called CBT-HA—to ten patients.

As far as I can tell, the animating hypothesis is more or less the same as that behind the PACE trial, except in this case the psychological entity that is presumed to inhibit patients from engaging in activity is called “health anxiety” rather than something called “fear avoidance.” Health anxiety seems to be essentially a friendlier, less derogatory name for hypochondriasis. Here is how the investigators describe the basis for their intervention:

These are the questions they gave to the 'research' subjects.

a) I do not worry about my health.
b) I occasionally worry about my health.
c) I spend much of my time worrying about my health.
d) I spend most of my time worrying about my health.

a) As a rule I am not aware of bodily sensations or changes.
b) Sometimes I am aware of bodily sensations or changes.
c) I am often aware of bodily sensations or changes.
d) I am constantly aware of bodily sensations or changes.

Talk about whack-a-mole! One of the blighters goes silent..............and then up pops a clutch of the wretches.

 

[Eva 24]

d) I am constantly aware of bodily sensations,

Yes being fried alive with electric shock symptoms , while oxygen saturation plummets and breathing difficulties tends to be hard to miss.

 

[Revel]

. . . and back in the real world of pwME in the UK:

a) I do not worry about the wanton ignorance of the Bath and Oxford academics
b) l occasionally worry about the wanton ignorance of the Bath and Oxford academics
c) l spend much of my time worrying about the wanton ignorance of the Bath and Oxford academics
d) l spend most of my time worrying about the wanton ignorance of the Bath and Oxford academics



Thank you, once again, Dr David Tuller for calling them out on this nonsense.

 

[Countrygirl]

. . . and back in the real world of pwME in the UK:

a) I do not worry about the wanton ignorance of the Bath and Oxford academics
b) l occasionally worry about the wanton ignorance of the Bath and Oxford academics
c) l spend much of my time worrying about the wanton ignorance of the Bath and Oxford academics
d) l spend most of my time worrying about the wanton ignorance of the Bath and Oxford academics



Thank you, once again, Dr David Tuller for calling them out on this nonsense.

Thanks for the smile! Ha!

 

[Countrygirl]

. . . and back in the real world of pwME in the UK:

a) I do not worry about the wanton ignorance of the Bath and Oxford academics
b) l occasionally worry about the wanton ignorance of the Bath and Oxford academics
c) l spend much of my time worrying about the wanton ignorance of the Bath and Oxford academics
d) l spend most of my time worrying about the wanton ignorance of the Bath and Oxford academics



Thank you, once again, Dr David Tuller for calling them out on this nonsense.

Do add your post under 'comments' in David's blog.............it will cheer a lot of irritated people.

 

[SevereME]

b) and
b)

However given the state of my health I should probably be a lot more concerned and a lot less avoidant... the GP who did the last home visit expressed shock at how ill I was after not having seen me since the start of my ME.

I was so easily fobbed off that I didn't even insist on having basic blood tests gone for 5 full years, which caused irreversible deterioration. I believed the somatization stuff might have been relevant and neglected the medical.

I regularly deteriorate a significant amount at once and never regain the former level I was at. I can still eat by myself, digest food, don't get emergency hospital admissions and pain is well within what I can manage.
I need a wheelchair indoors, regularly lose my speech, have periodic paralysis, and can't do most of the "essential" self care. I haven't been able to get to my garden in 3 or 4 years. Breathing problems scare my the most but my O2 levels are ok so that makes me less anxious.

I would rather spend a little odd my limited energy on reading science than worry. I think I will live long enough to see a cure or proper treatment so I focus on that.

Illness anxiety is a somatoform / somatization diagnosis which has been extremely controversial recently due to the removal of the part that said not to diagnosis in those with a serious illness. So whether you meet the criteria depends on a psych person's interpretation of your level of illness.

Not understanding the level of illness was largely the cause of Emily Collingridge's death in King's College Hospital - according to what I read via Invest in ME Research. It also caused Sophia Mirza's psych hospital admission and forced treatment, she passed away soon after.

Anxiety is a lot more treatable and would much prefer it to ME - I hope that doesn't sound too insensitive since I know for some it's an awful, awful illness.

 

[andyguitar]

I think I will live long enough to see a cure or proper treatment so I focus on that.

Yes I think there is much good on the horizon.

 

[Hopeful2021]

@SevereME

the loss of speech and paralysis you mentioned, I can relate. Also the sense of accommodation that you can still feed yourself. Yes... all the systems in the body to monitor different aspects of our inner workings are often and sadly given the misnomer of anxiety. Yet when a skilled athlete moves in reaction to competition and achieves some outstanding feat with the same system monitoring no one calls the athlete anxious.

It's taken my 18 months to crack my latest severe episode. I wrote a lot about here in another post. I think the "cure" will come in many forms and likely from other communities. One I'm most excited about is slowly gaining traction in the MS community and another in the TBI / brain injury. And then these layers coupled with what might evolve from the monoclonal antibodies research and existing monoclonal drug base.

I will say that it's been very intense rehabbing myself. Lots of layers to those three aspects of my severe episodes. But just wanted to say, there are methods currently available should you not want to wait.