If the government, DWP and insurance companies are really serious about saving money at all costs, someone somewhere is soon going to realise that sugar pills are even cheaper than CBT.
I confidently predict that in the near future a five million pound trial will be commissioned to test the efficacy of pacebos (wow how did that typo happen
) on MUS sufferers, and it will prove using the best subjective outcome measures that 69% of subjects reported improvement in their condition and have stopped bothering their GP. For some it will be such a success that they will be able to drop out of the trial before it's even finished. Knighthoods will follow.
The SMC, sensing their market share diminishing, will object strongly to this anti-science (oh the irony) before being invited by the placebo brigade into a big collaborative tent where experts from various disciplines can agree amicably and privately whose finger gets to go in which pie.
Never mind the debate about a patriachy and gender differences - the future is to treat all patients equally like children. If they come whining and complaining to you, just give them some sweets to shut them up and send them on their way. If that doesn't work, stop their allowance.