This is not an argument with psychiatry. Really ?

STONEBIRD

Charles Shepherd's otherwise excellent article in the Journal of Health Psychology, contains the puzzlingThis is not an argument with psychiatry", maybe he's right on one level, if psychiatry had properly acknowledged the physical reality of the illness,instead of working to re frame it as a mental illness.
quote "
In that sense it's true.
However there must be an argument with the psychosocial misrepresentation of ME as practised by the so-called "psychiatric lobby".

To this day the psychiatric lobby dictates :

  • do not investigate ME patients .
  • do not provide special facilities for ME patients other than psychiatric clinics .
  • do not offer special training to doctors about the disease .
  • do not offer appropriate medical care for ME patients . 
  • do not offer respite care for ME patients . .
  • do not conduct biomedical research into the disorder .

To this day the psychiatric lobby :

  • wreaks havoc in the lives of ME patients and their families by the arrogant pursuit of a psychiatric construct of the disease
  • attempts to subvert the international classification of this disorder from neurological to behavioural.
  • propagates untruths and falsehoods about the disease .
  • builds affiliations with corporate industry .
  • denigrates patients and carers

To this day the psychiatric lobby :

  • attempts to make "ME" disappear in a sea of chronic fatigue.
  • refuses to see or acknowledge the multiplicity of physical symptoms 
  • ignores and misinterprets the biomedical evidence. 

.
The impact has been :

  • the silencing of ME patients, through being given a psychiatric label .
  • the suppression of dissent .
  • the labelling of ME patients as the "undeserving sick , as malingerers .
  • the forcible removal of sick children and adults from their homes. 
  • widespread institutional prejudice against people with ME

For us, the argument is very much with psychiatry !!
The psychiatric lobby must be held accountable, surely.

Greg Crowhurst August 2017

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