Here is a video of a lecture I gave in Belfast just before COVID, entitled “Off the PACE and not NICE: Challenges with Evidence in ME/CFS.”
The lecture was part of a conference organised by Hope 4 ME & Fibro NI (kudos to Joan McParland and team). It hasn’t been posted online before.
It provides a background to the problematic so-called evidence base for graded exercise therapy and CBT as treatments for ME/CFS, and pitches a firm message to the NICE review group, some of whose members were in attendance.
Next month, NICE — the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence — will release its much anticipated guideline for the management of ME/CFS. The draft guideline was published back in November and was, to say the least, quite striking.
Popcorn at the ready then. Enjoy!

Brian Hughes is an academic psychologist and university professor in Galway, Ireland, specialising in stress, health, and the application of psychology to social issues. He writes widely on the psychology of empiricism and of empirically disputable claims, especially as they pertain to science, health, medicine, and politics.