me/cfs 27931
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If you were looking for a thread to laugh at or rant about this weekend, I've done my best to serve up the goods.
This opinion piece by the psychiatric-historian Robert Kaplan begins and ends whining about sorry state of his profession.
Strangely (or predictably?), in the middle it lashes out at patient groups being a significant part of the problem, particularly the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome "lobby" (oddly referred to as "CSF").
"Take a look at some of the threats being expressed on some websites devoted to and populated by CSF sufferers. The likelihood of such vehemence being translated into physical assault, perhaps even murder, cannot be excluded."
We would be wise to steer clear of such online hives of scum and villainy.
"Illness Terrorist"... where do I get the t-shirt?
This opinion piece by the psychiatric-historian Robert Kaplan begins and ends whining about sorry state of his profession.
Strangely (or predictably?), in the middle it lashes out at patient groups being a significant part of the problem, particularly the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome "lobby" (oddly referred to as "CSF").
Robert M. Kaplan said:Current Psychiatry and its Discontents
Robert M. Kaplan
April 8, 2017
http://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2017/04/current-psychiatry-discontents/
(excerpt, spacing added)
The empowered consumers, using the internet and social media, band together against what they regard as an oppressive and remote agency, namely their doctors.
Nowhere is this better seen than the festering, if not venomous, public debate over chronic fatigue syndrome (CSF). Despite decades of research, the cause of CSF remains unknown; no one has been able to prove that it is viral, the totemic belief of the CSF lobby.
And “lobby” is the right word, the tendentious result of patients devolving into that sociological buzz word: consumers with all the rights and expectations of supermarket customers selecting what they regard as the best washing powders.
Psychiatrists are often regarded as the enemy for refusing unequivocally to accept that they have a purely physical illness and nothing else. This is, of course, Cartesian dualism gone mad.
CSF consists of three overlapping clusters of musculo-skeletal, sleep and psychiatric symptoms. It is quite appropriate to treat all three clusters to provide relief to sufferers. This is not acceptable to the CSF lobby, however, whose vehemence towards psychiatry is approaching something akin to “illness terrorism”.
Take a look at some of the threats being expressed on some websites devoted to and populated by CSF sufferers. The likelihood of such vehemence being translated into physical assault, perhaps even murder, cannot be excluded.
So disruptive, if not dangerous are these threats that Sir Simon Wessely, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, has announced his withdrawal from research in the field.
"Take a look at some of the threats being expressed on some websites devoted to and populated by CSF sufferers. The likelihood of such vehemence being translated into physical assault, perhaps even murder, cannot be excluded."
We would be wise to steer clear of such online hives of scum and villainy.
"Illness Terrorist"... where do I get the t-shirt?