Dr David Tuller: Oxford Health Blinks, Removes Pamphlet on Post-COVID Illness

[Countrygirl]

FIRST: PLEASE MAY I REMIND US ALL THAT DAVID IS CROWDFUNDING. UNDERSTANDABLY, GIVEN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES, HIS DONATIONS ARE CONSIDERABLY LOWER THAN LAST YEAR. HE HAS WORKED SO HARD FOR US AND ACHIEVED SO MUCH, PLEASE CONSIDER HELPING HIM TO CONTINUE CHAMPIONING OUR CAUSE FOR THE NEXT YEAR.
Thank you!

Moderator Note: Here's the link to donate to David's crowdfunding campaign: https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/proj...MO0tsqACqegBMDfp3XgqcEdhEXaxI50BPS0oLimJwhMW8


https://www.virology.ws/2020/04/20/...oiwzy0TZcaTUxDV8a1wiJk0uce3P268Ao#commentform

Trial By Error: Oxford Health Blinks, Removes Pamphlet on Post-COVID Illness

20 APRIL 2020


By David Tuller, DrPH

In this traumatic time, small victories should be savored. Last week, I noticed a tweet from patient and advocate Tom Kindlon about a pamphlet from the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, the entity that oversees NHS services in the Oxford region. Other patients and advocates also flagged it on social media and sent it to me directly.

The pamphlet addressed concerns about possible post-COVID-19 cases of what it called “chronic fatigue syndrome,” and then promoted graded exercise and cognitive behavior therapy as treatments. This dung heap read is if it were written by Simon Wessely, Trudie Chalder, and Michael Sharpe way back in the early 1990s. It was credited to something called the “psychosocial response group”–a mysterious-sounding phrase that did not yield any results when I searched for the term on Oxford Health’s website. But the acronym–PRG–is kinda cool-looking.)

(Are the “psychosocialists” the same as the “biopsychosocialists”–with the difference that they are now making it clear the “bio” doesn’t really matter much to them? Hm.).................

 

[nyanko_the_sane]

Yes, I noticed it was deleted from the server yesterday, a small win is still a win!

 

[Mary]

That pamphlet was truly awful! (and bizarre!) It starts out by saying

This leaflet is one of a series about Coronavirus and mental health.

and then goes on to talk about GET and CBT if you're just too tired after being sick - small victory indeed that the pamphlet was taken down!

It will be interesting to see what response David Tuller gets to the FOIA request he filed to find out more about "PRG" and the scientific literature on which they based the pamphlet - okay, I'm donating to David today!

You can donate here: https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/proj...MO0tsqACqegBMDfp3XgqcEdhEXaxI50BPS0oLimJwhMW8

 

[Countrygirl]

@Mary Thanks for putting up the funding address. My laptop had just about died and wouldn't let me ferret about looking for the link, and so I hoped someone would paste it on the thread.
Thanks you!