Eén titel, twee missers

(English translation below)

One title, two mistakes

The fatigue scientists in the Netherlands are desperate; the water is up to their lips. The Health Council has rightly stated that their cognitive behavioral therapy combined with gradually increased activity  is no longer regarded as an adequate medical treatment which ME and CFS patients can be obliged to undergo.

In Trouw (a national newspaper) of Saturday, April 7, 2018, Prof. Jenny Slatman, physiotherapist and philosopher, was interviewed in an article by Willem Schoonen with the misleading title: chronically tired and fiercely against therapy.

No less than two mistakes in that title; chronic fatigue, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and ME are not the same. Please read the scientific literature I suggest. And then the second mistake. Patients are not fiercely against therapy. They just want to get better. However, the cognitive behavioral therapy in CFS and ME has been scientifically proven to be ineffective and can lead to worsening. Most seriously ill ME patients have already undergone this treatment and came out worse. The suggestion that they are fiercely against therapy is misleading.

The comparison with the application of cognitive behavioral therapy in patients suffering with cancer is misleading. In those cases CBT is not used as primary treatment, it is used after the primary treatment (succesfully) has taken place. An example: Imagine if you have cancer, you haven’t received any treatment yet and you feel sick (please note: I do not wish this to anyone) and there is a therapist who tells you that you should not listen to your body and that you have to build up your activities gradually. After all, body and soul/mind are one according to Mrs Slatman.

What would you do?

Auteur: Lou Corsius

MSc Health Sciences

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