{"id":21556,"date":"2019-08-05T06:49:30","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T06:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/?p=21556"},"modified":"2019-08-05T06:49:30","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T06:49:30","slug":"cfs-an-illness-without-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/cfs-an-illness-without-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"CFS – an illness without disease?"},"content":{"rendered":"

CFS – an illness without disease?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>In a recent paper psychologist Prof Michael Sharpe and sociologist Monica Greco discuss CFS as an ‘illness without disease’ in comparison to cancer, a known disease, and argued that, while illness-focused treatments like CBT and GET can ameliorate the symptom of fatigue, there is also a need to address the paradoxical predicament of illness-without-disease that patients find themselves in.<\/p>\n

Chronic fatigue syndrome and an illness-focused approach to care: Controversy, morality and paradox,<\/a> by Michael Sharpe and Monica Greco in<\/span> Medical humanities<\/em> 2019; 45: 183-187.<\/p>\n

Responses to this paper:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

More science and less philosophy needed<\/strong>, by Susanna Agardy, Retired due to ME\/CFS<\/h3>\n

At the heart of Sharpe and Greco\u2019s article lies the complaint that while cancer patients accept CBT\/GET treatments for their fatigue, ME\/CFS patients reject these treatments. Of course they do! ME\/CFS patients have a different disease, the main feature of which makes them unable to increase exertion.<\/p>\n

The article contains several omissions and misinterpretations…<\/p>\n

The argument provides a rationale for a science-denying approach to ME\/CFS and endangers patient welfare. It is a departure from the previous model of more directly trying to correct patients\u2019 \u2018dysfunctional thinking\u2019 and consequent \u2018deconditioning\u2019. This version of the Emperor\u2019s New Clothes is also unacceptable…<\/p>\n

Science, physiology and clarification of misleading terms<\/strong>, by Adi C Wood, Scientist ME<\/h3>\n

The view held by these authors that chronic fatigue syndrome is an illness without disease is at odds with the findings of the National Academy of Science, physiological and bio-medical researchers worldwide…<\/p>\n

Sharp & Greco want us to abandon science<\/strong>, by Michael N Dyson, Computer Technician<\/h3>\n

Sharp & Greco state: “This new approach assumes that the reality of illness has a complex and indeterminate character”.<\/p>\n

If by this they mean that the cause of any given illness cannot in principle be determined – as I suspect they are – then it is clear that they are abandoning the scientific enterprise. We ask Sharp and Greco: do they say illness is an effect? If they do then ipso facto they concede it has a cause or causes, and it is the task of science, in the broadest sense, to elucidate those causes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CFS – an illness without disease? In a recent paper psychologist Prof Michael Sharpe and sociologist Monica Greco discuss CFS as an ‘illness without disease’ in comparison to cancer, a known disease, and argued that, while illness-focused treatments like CBT … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[5240,2742,5241,5239,5238,2150,3870],"class_list":["post-21556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-adi-c-wood","tag-disease","tag-illness-focussed-approach-to-care","tag-michael-n-dyson","tag-monica-greco","tag-prof-michael-sharpe","tag-susanna-agardy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5qkYK-5BG","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21556"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22027,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21556\/revisions\/22027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}