I addressed that in my comment:
Thank you for your article. It is good to see biomedical research being given prominence.
The PACE trial in fact has just shown null results at long-term follow-up. There was no difference between groups, and since all groups received standard medical care, the addition of CBT and graded exercise therapy clearly had no effect at all. The PACE authors' promotion of the findings as successful has caused great anger among scientists as well as patients. Professor James Coyne, for example, has written a damning critique on his Public Library of Science blog.
Six prominent scientists today published an open letter to The Lancet, which published the study, saying "the study suffered from major flaws that have raised serious concerns about the validity, reliability and integrity of the findings."
http://www.virology.ws/2015/11/13/an-open-letter-to-dr-richard-horton-and-the-lancet/
The CBT used in the trial and imposed upon patients through the NHS is not normal CBT designed to "help patients to cope with the challenges they face" as Professor Wessely seems to suggest. It is specifically based on a model of the illness in which there in no longer any pathology and patients are merely deconditioned and must be encouraged to exercise their way out of it. This is explicit in the PACE Lancet paper.
Over 10,000 people have signed a petition calling for the misleading claims made in PACE to be retracted:
http://my.meaction.net/petitions/pace-trial-needs-review-now
To answer your question: there is a way forward for ME/CFS, but it requires psychiatrists to get out of the way.
The PACE trial in fact has just shown null results at long-term follow-up. There was no difference between groups, and since all groups received standard medical care, the addition of CBT and graded exercise therapy clearly had no effect at all. The PACE authors' promotion of the findings as successful has caused great anger among scientists as well as patients. Professor James Coyne, for example, has written a damning critique on his Public Library of Science blog.
Six prominent scientists today published an open letter to The Lancet, which published the study, saying "the study suffered from major flaws that have raised serious concerns about the validity, reliability and integrity of the findings."
http://www.virology.ws/2015/11/13/an-open-letter-to-dr-richard-horton-and-the-lancet/
The CBT used in the trial and imposed upon patients through the NHS is not normal CBT designed to "help patients to cope with the challenges they face" as Professor Wessely seems to suggest. It is specifically based on a model of the illness in which there in no longer any pathology and patients are merely deconditioned and must be encouraged to exercise their way out of it. This is explicit in the PACE Lancet paper.
Over 10,000 people have signed a petition calling for the misleading claims made in PACE to be retracted:
http://my.meaction.net/petitions/pace-trial-needs-review-now
To answer your question: there is a way forward for ME/CFS, but it requires psychiatrists to get out of the way.