1,000 signatures reached
To: NHS England
GET and CBT are dangerous treatments for ME patients
NHS England cut the funding of GET and CBT for ME patients. Dear NHS England, in view of the current dire state of NHS funding due to Govt cuts, we the UK ME community are happy to accept a total cut of the funding that goes to GET & CBT treatment for ME patients.
Why is this important?
This will not only save the NHS millions but will save many thousands of people with ME untold harm and suffering and hundreds of premature deaths. CBT is a ‘scam’ therapy that is wasting vast sums of money. Patients are being misled because the short-term fix offered by CBT does not have a lasting benefit, says leading psychologist Oliver James. CBT is no more effective than placebo in treating anxiety or depression.
Oliver James says proponents of CBT have ‘mis-sold’ the treatment to policymakers and the public, who are wasting their time. CBT is largely ineffective for the majority of patients. The management strategies making up the bulk of the ‘treatments’ on offer by the National Health Service in the UK — “CBT and Graded Exercise” seem absurd to patients and carers given the problem on the ground. ME Research UK
CBT/GET is not only hardly more effective than non-interventions or standard medical care, but many patients report that the therapy had affected them adversely, the majority of them even reporting substantial deterioration. We conclude that it is unethical to treat patients with ME/CFS with ineffective, non-evidence-based and potentially harmful "rehabilitation therapies", such as CBT/GET. Dr Michael Maes and Dr Frank N Twisk
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19855350.................“GET is not therapy – it is simply the enforcement of an opinion rather than a treatment based upon any scientific examination of a patient’s pathology and treatment of that pathology. …..Graded exercise programmes may be significantly dangerous to many of these ME patients” Dr Byron Hyde.................“The whole idea that you can take a disease like this and exercise your way to health is foolishness. It is insane.” Dr Paul Cheyney.............CBT and GET are at best useless and at worst extremely harmful for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis patients. Patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis, particularly children, have suffered gross and barbaric abuse and persistent denigration as a consequence of the beliefs of certain psychiatrists who are attempting to control the national agenda for this complex and severe neuro-immunological disorder. These psychiatrists are shown to be clearly in breach of the first tenet of medicine --- first do no harm--- in that by their words and deeds they have wreaked havoc in the lives of M.E. The Hummingbird Foundation for ME
http://www.hfme.org/meandmistreatment.htm
Oliver James says proponents of CBT have ‘mis-sold’ the treatment to policymakers and the public, who are wasting their time. CBT is largely ineffective for the majority of patients. The management strategies making up the bulk of the ‘treatments’ on offer by the National Health Service in the UK — “CBT and Graded Exercise” seem absurd to patients and carers given the problem on the ground. ME Research UK
CBT/GET is not only hardly more effective than non-interventions or standard medical care, but many patients report that the therapy had affected them adversely, the majority of them even reporting substantial deterioration. We conclude that it is unethical to treat patients with ME/CFS with ineffective, non-evidence-based and potentially harmful "rehabilitation therapies", such as CBT/GET. Dr Michael Maes and Dr Frank N Twisk
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19855350.................“GET is not therapy – it is simply the enforcement of an opinion rather than a treatment based upon any scientific examination of a patient’s pathology and treatment of that pathology. …..Graded exercise programmes may be significantly dangerous to many of these ME patients” Dr Byron Hyde.................“The whole idea that you can take a disease like this and exercise your way to health is foolishness. It is insane.” Dr Paul Cheyney.............CBT and GET are at best useless and at worst extremely harmful for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis patients. Patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis, particularly children, have suffered gross and barbaric abuse and persistent denigration as a consequence of the beliefs of certain psychiatrists who are attempting to control the national agenda for this complex and severe neuro-immunological disorder. These psychiatrists are shown to be clearly in breach of the first tenet of medicine --- first do no harm--- in that by their words and deeds they have wreaked havoc in the lives of M.E. The Hummingbird Foundation for ME
http://www.hfme.org/meandmistreatment.htm
