Cambridgeshire, Suffolk Youth & Parent, and Bury & Bolton ME Support Groups have sent an open letter to the President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, following the College’s defence of the ME and Long Covid session at its Congress last month.
When Long Covid Advocacy and co-signatories objected to that session, the College’s reply justified it by pointing to the speakers’ “expert use of the biopsychosocial model”. Our letter points out that the BPS model is simply a reminder that biology, psychology and social factors can all matter in illness. It isn’t a scientific theory that can be tested, so it can’t be used to prop up specific treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and graded exercise that have been tested, and rejected by NICE in NG206 after it found the evidence for them was of low or very low quality.
The letter went to the College on 13 July, and is published in full here: https://tinyurl.com/483wd3ps
