Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Research News

Tackling fears about exercise is important for ME treatment, analysis indicates

BMJ 2015; 350 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h227 (Published 14 January 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h227

Rapid Response:

The real fear among many patients like me over the last 26 years is the ongoing mishandling by the a large section of the medical profession as a whole and psychiatry in particular. ME is a defined disorder, linking this with CFS not only muddies the water but dilutes the research outcomes and prolongs the search for aetiology and treatment. I am old enough to remember this being done with MS in exactly the same fashion in the 1970s with the same results until neurology finally silenced the psychiatrists and real research into this dreadful illness could take place. Research into the physical processes is out there and begining to show results, please consider it and avoid the lazy assumptions that have caused such pain and anguish to a patient cohort who has enough to cope with and deserves better from a profession that considers itself science based.

Competing interests: No competing interests

16 January 2015
Stephen Powell
Retired Senior Psychiatric Nurse
Brockworth, Gloucestershire