Anonymous
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Search
Editing
Criticisms of The Gupta Program
(section)
From MEpedia, a crowd-sourced encyclopedia of ME and CFS science and history
Namespaces
Page
Discussion
More
More
Page actions
Read
Edit
Edit source
History
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Historical and Present-Day Controversy within the ME Community== The Gupta Program uses the deeply controversial [[Brain retraining|Brain Retraining]] methods that have caused immense problems in the ME Community. This field can also be categorised under the discredited psychological and behavioural therapies and mind-body treatments – none of which have strong empirical evidence. If you are not in this field it is easy to not be directly aware of the hurt, false hope, money lost and patient harm inflicted in patients with ME<ref>https://anaharriswrites.com/my-brain-retraining-story/</ref><ref>@jenbrea (Feb 8, 2018). "I crashed really hard from doing Gupta" (Tweet) – via Twitter.</ref> Others include DNRS – [[Dynamic Neural Retraining System]], the [[Lightning Process]]<ref name="Tuller27Aug2020">https://www.virology.ws/2020/08/27/trial-by-error-the-lightning-process-strikes-again/</ref>, [[Alex Howard]]'s [[REACT]], and [[ANS Rewire]]. Fraudlisting.com have compiled an excellent site to educate people about the issues of this approach.<ref name="fraud">https://fraudlisting.com/index.php/about/</ref> These methods and paradigms of the [[Wessely school]], [[PACE trial]] and the [[brain retraining|Brain Retraining]] Methods have prevented serious biochemical medical research into post-viral illness. We need immunologists not psychiatrists. 40 years of institutional abuse have occurred in this field. The underlying disease mechanism is not understood in ME because for decades the Behavioural psychiatrists and psychologists have fought for ME to be only located in their field, which has dominated funding, research, clinical guidelines and medical insurance. The PACE trial is one of the medical scandals equivalent to Andrew Wakefield, MMR and Autism.<ref>{{Cite web | url = https://www.virology.ws/2017/08/02/trial-by-error-the-science-media-centres-desperate-efforts-to-defend-pace/ | title = Trial by Error: The Science Media Centre’s Desperate Efforts to Defend PACE | last = Tuller | first = David | authorlink = David Tuller | date = Aug 2, 2017 | website = [[Virology blog]]|language=en-US| archive-url = | archive-date = |url-status = | access-date=}}</ref><ref name="MEAFeb2018">{{Cite web | title = Government-funded ME/CFS trial 'one of greatest medical scandals of 21st century' | date = February 20, 2018 | url = https://meassociation.org.uk/2018/02/government-funded-me-cfs-trial-one-of-greatest-medical-scandals-of-21st-century-20-february-2018/ | website = [[ME Association]]|access-date=2022-06-01}}</ref> Patients campaigned for 5 years for the full data to be released and it was found to be substandard with the researchers making up data to fulfil their hypothesis.{{citation needed | date = 2022}} [[Bruce Levin]], Biostatistician of Columbia calls this "the height of clinical trial amateurism," [[Ronald Davis]] of Stanford says, "I’m shocked that the Lancet published it…The PACE study has so many flaws and there are so many questions you’d want to ask about it that I don’t understand how it got through any kind of peer review"; Prof [[Jonathan Edwards]] of UCL says it "is an unblinded trial with [[subjective outcome]] measures. That makes it a non-starter in the eyes of any physician or clinical pharmacologist familiar with problems of systematic bias in trial execution. "The history of ME remains one of the worst examples of unacknowledged [[Medical neglect and abuse|institutional abuse]] in modern times." ~ [[Valerie Eliot Smith]] 2019<ref name="VES-quote2019">{{Cite web | url = https://valerieeliotsmith.com/2019/06/07/welcome-to-law-and-health/ | last = Eliot-Smith|first = Valerie | authorlink = Valerie Eliot Smith | website = Valerie Eliot Smith Blog | date = June 7, 2019 | title = Welcome to Law and Health}}</ref> Long Covid and other post viral conditions would be much better understood if these delays had not happened. Advocating psychological methods is part of the problem, not the solution. The point of this short analysis is to show the extent psychological medicine has dominated post viral conditions. The history of the treatment of ME also shows how "cures" such as the Gupta Program have been allowed to come into existence. The Gupta Method is an extension of this flawed paradigm as it uses psychological methods to treat ME and other conditions including Long Covid. There has been a worrying trend of psychiatrists and other therapists involved in treating ME who are members of the Wessely school coming over into the field of Long Covid due to similar symptoms. The battle that has occurred within the ME is now being transposed into Long Covid. Established figures in this biopsychosocial school such as [[Michael Sharpe]],<ref name="Guardian16Apr2021">{{Cite web | url = http://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/apr/16/analysing-long-covid-and-managing-anxiety | title = Analysing long Covid and managing anxiety {{!}} Letters | last = Sharpe | first = Michael | authorlink = Michael Sharpe | date = 2021-04-16 | website = The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2022-03-07}}</ref> Prof [[Paul Garner]]<ref name="AlarmingFlipFlop2021">{{Cite web | url = https://valerieeliotsmith.com/2021/02/01/professor-garner-the-bmj-and-me-alarming-flip-flop-on-recovery-from-long-covid/ | last = Eliot-Smith|first = Valerie | authorlink = Valerie Eliot Smith | website = Valerie Eliot Smith Blog | date = Feb 1, 2021 | title = Professor Garner, The BMJ and me: an alarming flip-flop on recovery from long Covid}}</ref>, [[Trudie Chalder]]<ref name="ChalderCovid">{{Cite web | url = https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/spotlight/spotlight-on-covid-coping-with-fatigue-in-the-pandemic | title = Spotlight on COVID: Coping with fatigue in the pandemic | website = King's College London|language=en-GB|access-date=2022-03-07}}</ref>, [[Simon Wessely]]<ref>The irony of Simon Wessely chairing part of an RSM longcovid webinar, that involves discussion with the 5 beneficiaries of an urgent £20m MRC/NIHR LC biomedical research funding call is not lost on me @squashedHedgi</ref> and [[Peter White]],<ref name="MERGEGuardianGETLC">{{Cite news | title = Letter – The Guardian – re Graded Exercise Therapy and long-COVID | date = March 12, 2021 | url = https://www.meresearch.org.uk/letter-the-guardian-re-graded-exercise-therapy-and-long-covid/|access-date=2022-05-03| publisher = The Guardian | last = ME Research UK | first = | authorlink = ME Research UK}}</ref> are all active in the media and trying to reestablish their disproven paradigm<ref name="Geraghty2019">{{Cite journal | last = Geraghty|first = Keith | authorlink = Keith Geraghty | last2 = Jason | first2 = Leonard | authorlink2 = Leonard Jason | last3 = Sunnquist | first3 = Madison | author-link3 = Madison Sunnquist | last4 = Blease | first4 = Charlotte | author-link4 = Charlotte Blease | last5 = Tuller | first5 = David | author-link5 = David Tuller | last6 = Adeniji | first6 = Charles | author-link6 = | date = Jan 1, 2019 | title = The 'Cognitive Behavioural Model' of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Critique of a Flawed Model. | url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330901648_The_'Cognitive_Behavioural_Model'_of_Chronic_Fatigue_Syndrome_Critique_of_a_Flawed_Model|journal=Journal of Health Psychology|volume=6|issue=1 | pages = 2055102919838907|pmid=31041108|quote=|via=}}</ref> for psychological treatments such as CBT and GET for Long Covid. An article by George Monbiot<ref name="MonbiotSuperspreading">{{Cite web | url = http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/14/super-spreading-long-covid-professor-press-coverage | title = Apparently just by talking about it, I’m super-spreading long Covid | first = George | last = Monbiot | date = 2021-04-14 | website = The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2022-03-07}}</ref> describes how Sharpe accused Monbiot of spreading Long Covid simply by talking about it. Simon Wessely, leader of the Wessley School chaired a recent committee on Long Covid funding; Michael Sharpe is back at Oxford heading the Long Covid Clinic, and press articles are being published by leading figures of the school. Key advocates against the biopsychosocial model include patient advocate [[Margaret Williams]]; [[Margaret_of_Mar,_31st_Countess_of_Mar| Countess of Mar]]; Dr [[David Tuller]], a Senior Fellow in Public Health in Journalism at the Center of Global Public Health, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley; Professor [[Malcolm Hooper]], Professor Emeritus of Medicine Chemistry at the University of Sunderland;[[Tom Kindlon]]; [[Alem Matthees]]; Dr [[Sarah Myhill]], who set up the [[Medical Abuse In ME Sufferers (MAIMES)|Medical Abuse in ME Sufferers (MAIMES) petition]]<ref name="maimes">{{Cite web | url = https://drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Medical_Abuse_In_ME_Sufferers_(MAIMES) | title = Medical Abuse in ME Sufferers | last = Myhill|first = Sarah | authorlink = Sarah Myhill | date = | website = Dr Myhill| archive-url = | archive-date = |url-status = | access-date=2022-05-03}}</ref> [[Medical Abuse In ME Sufferers (MAIMES)]] petition and made a formal complaint to the GMC about the PACE trial;<ref>{{Cite web | url = https://www.drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/My_Complaint_to_the_GMC_about_the_PACE_authors | title = My Complaint to the GMC about the PACE authors | last = Myhill|first = Sarah | authorlink = Sarah Myhill | date = | website = Dr Myhill| archive-url = | archive-date = |url-status = | access-date=2022-03-07}}</ref> Dr [[Charles Shepherd]], Hon Medical Advisor of the [[ME Association]], who states that “NICE has warned that their current recommendations regarding GET for ME/CFS should not be transferred to people with Long Covid. We hope that this new cohort of post viral patients with Long Covid will not have to suffer the same mistakes that have been inflicted on people with ME/CFS”. Despite this appearance of open debate, a clear scientific consensus has been reached.<ref>{{Cite web | url = https://www.virology.ws/2020/11/10/trial-by-error-nice-draft-rejects-get-lightning-process-and-cbt-as-cure/ | title = Trial By Error: NICE Draft Rejects GET, Lightning Process, and CBT-As-Cure | website = [[Virology blog]]|access-date=2021-07-04 | date = Nov 10, 2020 | last = Tuller | first = David | authorlink = David Tuller|archive-url=|archive-date=|url-status=}}</ref> The NICE draft guidelines (November 2020) state: “If anyone deserves an apology it is the people with ME/CFS, many of whom have experienced years of being told that their symptoms are “all in the mind” and given no meaningful medical management – mainly as a result /of the dominance of the psychosocial model of causation. As a result, progress involving biomedical research into the underlying cause of ME/CFS has been severely hampered.” The ME Association further clarifies, “The reason why people with ME/CFS feel angry and let down by the medical establishment stems from the fact that almost all biomedical research until recently has been funded by donations to the charity sector. Almost all government funding has gone into research based on a flawed psychosocial model of causation.”. Vincent Racaniello in his virology blog states, “For months, Professor Sharpe and his colleagues have been deploying the Long Covid phenomenon in a campaign to shore up their cherished but collapsing CBT/GET approach to ME/CFS and related conditions.” <ref>{{Cite web | url = https://www.virology.ws/2021/04/06/trial-by-error-guardian-columnist-george-monbiot-is-causing-long-covid-says-professor-michael-sharpe/ | title = Trial By Error: Guardian Columnist George Monbiot Is Causing Long COVID, Says Professor Michael Sharpe | last = Tuller | first = David | authorlink = David Tuller | date = Apr 6, 2021 | website = [[Virology blog]]| archive-url = | archive-date = |url-status = | access-date=2022-03-07}}</ref> The point here is that it is not just Sharpe and his colleagues it is also the Gupta foundation that is found on the same principles: psychological treatments for a biophysical condition. They are trying to establish themselves in the Long Covid world without justification. The [[ME Association]] in the UK does not recommend that people with ME undergo the Gupta Program. In September 2018 the [[ME Association]] took the Gupta Program to court and reported their concerns to the ASA – Advertising Standards Agency.<ref name="meagupta">{{Cite web | url = https://meassociation.org.uk/2018/04/advertising-standards-uphold-complaint-against-gupta-programme-for-me-cfs-and-fibromyalgia-11-april-2018/ | title = Advertising Standards Uphold Complaint Against Gupta Programme for ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia | last = Shepherd | first =Charles | authorlink = Charles Shepherd | date = April 11, 2018 | website = [[ME Association]]|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 13, 2018|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20180413235708/https://meassociation.org.uk/2018/04/advertising-standards-uphold-complaint-against-gupta-programme-for-me-cfs-and-fibromyalgia-11-april-2018/|access-date=2022-06-01}}</ref> Dr [[Charles Shepherd]] wrote: :"In relation to the Gupta Programme, this is not a form of treatment that we recommend, and we welcome the fact that the ASA has taken this action in relation to the way it is being advertised to the general public." The complaints were: :"The complainant challenged whether the claims that the Gupta Programme could treat the following conditions were misleading and could be substantiated: :1. "Fibromyalgia"; :2. "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) or ME"; and :3. Electrical Sensitivities" :All three complaints were upheld with the evidence produced by the Gupta Programme seen as insufficient. Action: :We told Harley Street Solutions Ltd not to state or imply that the Gupta Programme could treat "Fibromyalgia, "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) or ME" or "Electrical Sensitivities". We told them to ensure that they held substantiation for any similar claims relating to medical conditions or symptoms." :Therefore, there should be no advertising or reference on the Gupta Foundation website that this method can treat these conditions. I would infer that other symptoms and medical conditions would include Long Covid. It is vital to not repeat the mistakes that were made with treating and diagnosing ME in Long Covid. It was through the faulty belief established through Cognitive Behavioral Psychology (Wessely school) that ME was caused by [[deconditioning]] and patients had [[Kinesiophobia|too much fear to be active]] therefore keeping themselves in a vicious circle, and that ME was a disease of psychiatric origin with the cause also being seen as mass hysteria. This is also known as the [[biopsychosocial model]] (BPS). Therefore [[graded exercise therapy|Graded Exercise Therapy]] (GET) was prescribed to condition them and make them overcome their fear and psychological therapies were given such as CBT to help them change their negative thought and emotional processes about exercise. While on this program, physical and diagnostic tests are also to be actively avoided. Receiving social security [[access to benefits|benefits]] or sick pay is also discouraged as this is seen as an obstacle to recovery. As previously demonstrated, Long Covid is being [[Psychologization|"psychologised"]] and treated with [[exercise]] therapy or psychological therapy i.e. CBT, NLP, or any of the Brain Retraining techniques such as the Gupta Program. Yet we are seeing an attempt in the press and medical practitioners through research and advocacy to return this paradigm to Long Covid. It is up to patients, researchers, practitioners, doctors and therapists to be vigilant and educated so we actually make breakthroughs in the correct areas such as neurology and immunology and do not waste precious time and money. We can then find therapeutic treatments that actually work and stop the gaslighting of those with postviral disease.
Summary:
Please make sure your edits are consistent with
MEpedia's guidelines
.
By saving changes, you agree to the
Terms of use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 3.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
This page is a member of 6 hidden categories:
Category:All articles needing cleanup from 2022
Category:All articles with unsourced statements
Category:Articles not meeting science guidelines from 2022
Category:Articles with unsourced statements from 2022
Category:Articles with unsourced statements from unknown year
Category:Cleanup tagged articles with a reason field from 2022
Navigation
Navigation
Skip to content
Main page
Browse
Become an editor
Random page
Popular pages
Abbreviations
Glossary
About MEpedia
Links for editors
Contents
Guidelines
Recent changes
Pages in need
Search
Help
Wiki tools
Wiki tools
Special pages
Page tools
Page tools
User page tools
More
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Page logs