“No one comes up here without a damn good reason.” * * * Regular readers will recall that I have previously written about the UK’s new healthcare guidelines for ME/CFS, as published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in 2021. Whereas the old guidance had proposed […]
myalgic encephalomyelitis
ME, Long Covid, and the History of Medical Stigma (Transcript)
Here is a transcript of my recent podcast with the Norwegian ME Association. In the interview, we discuss the medical stigma where post-viral illnesses, such as ME and Long COVID, are falsely characterised as ‘psychological’ due to poorly grounded stereotyping. The discussion touches on how medical opinion has become intertwined […]
ME, Long Covid, and the History of Medical Stigma (Podcast)
I recently had the pleasure of talking with the folks at the Norwegian ME Association for their (excellently produced) podcast series. Arising from my new book, we discussed the medical stigma in which an illness is falsely characterised as ‘psychological’ — post-viral conditions such as ME and Long Covid, for […]
Another look at the new NICE guideline for ME/CFS
Just the other week, I spoke at the annual conference of the RME, the Swedish National Association for ME. In my lecture, I took another look at the new ME/CFS guideline as published by NICE about one year ago. While I covered ground that might be familiar to some, it […]
Psychogenic ME/CFS: Turning the Nostalgia Up to Eleven
Some examples of comedy are jarringly impactful precisely because they feel so authentic. A personal favourite of mine is the 1984 movie This is Spinal Tap, the legendary mockumentary depicting a fictional English rock band attempting to rescue their dwindling reputations by organising one last big-splash concert tour. It is […]
New Treatment Guideline, Same Old Denialism
Last Monday, the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) held its much anticipated roundtable discussion event, ostensibly to appease those (few) medical stakeholders who had baulked at the newly developed treatment guideline for ME/CFS. Regular readers will be aware that NICE developed its guideline over several years […]