By David Tuller. DrPH Proponents of psycho-behavioral interventions for ME/CFS and, more recently, Long Covid, have argued--unconvincingly and with a shortage of actual evidence--that the disabling symptoms can be attributed to the effects of deconditioning. Earlier today, I spoke with Dr Rob Wüst, an expert in muscle physiology and metabolism ...

By David Tuller, DrPH McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario, seems to be Canada’s Ground Zero for psychosomatic theorizing. In March, 2021, a psychiatrist-in-training, Jeremy Devine, published an opinion in The Wall Street Journal titled “The Dubious Origins of Long Covid.” (I wrote about it here.) Devine cited the PACE trial ...

By David Tuller, DrPH When it comes to ME and ME/CFS, The BMJ—formerly called The British Medical Journal but now, like the food franchise once known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, officially reduced to a mere acronym—is a long-time champion of the “biopsychosocial” ideological brigades. (I use the “scare quotes” because ...

By David Tuller, DrPH Last week, The BMJ published a commissioned propaganda piece—er, “opinion”—written by confirmed members of the cognitive behavior therapy/graded exercise therapy/Lightning Process ideological brigades. The title: “Patients with severe ME/CFS need hope and expert multidisciplinary care.” It repeats all the usual blah blah, along with the unwarranted ...

By David Tuller, DrPH I often find myself responding to crap studies--such as a Norwegian study called “Brief Outpatient Rehabilitation Program for Post–COVID-19 Condition: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” from Nerli et al., published last December by JAMA Network Open. The senior author was Professor Vegard Wyller, the dean of the ...