Round up of articles spotted online in May 2025 that focus on the experiences of people with ‘psychologised’ or hard to diagnose health conditions.
Keith Geraghty on O’Sullivan
Writing in his Substack newsletter, well known health researcher and psychologist, Keith Geraghty, is well placed to take apart the recently well publicised writings of Suzanne O’Sullivan. He knows the relevant research inside out and has published widely on the PACE Trial and is ideally placed to challenge the narrative that MECFS and many other conditions O’Sullivan names are psychosomatic in origin. He goes into detail…
I feel compelled to go further and to highlight just how unscientific and harmful many of OSullivan’s views are, and how damaging they may be to people living with ME/CFS, Lyme, Long-Covid, and many other health conditions. I have been researching these conditions for over a decade and I can categorially say that Dr OSullivan is wrong, and not only is she wrong, she perpetuates a myth about these conditions, that they are psychological in origin, and this view is the main reason so many people with ME/CFS.
Keith Geraghty writing in his Substack newsletter
Frances Ryan on Friendship
Disabled journalist and book author Frances Ryan has a well deserved national profile in the UK for both her political pieces and more personal work. In this article (paywall) she reflects on friendship across the boundaries of dis/ability, health and illness, and explores how we can connect better.
… I was facing things that – with the best will in the world – many non-disabled people would struggle to grasp, especially when you’re young. Shared experiences in your twenties or thirties tend to be careers and babies, not doctor’s appointments and day of the week pill boxes. If you’re the only one in your friendship group with pain or anxiety, it can feel uniquely isolating, as if you speak a foreign language no one else understands. Forget swapping tips about fatigue in the pub with fellow millennials, I was tempted to turn up to the local care home for a chat with someone’s Nan.
Frances Ryan in the Independent newspaper (paywall)
Physios for ME publish new resource on Post Exertional Malaise
The cardinal symptom of MECFS, post exertional malaise (PEM) is not taught about in medical schools or widely understood. It’s crucial to familiarise yourself with it if you are in a supportive role helping people with MECFS. Physios for ME is a respected group of physios working to increase understanding of MECFS in their profession and more widely. Their excellent and quick-to-read guide, full of useful links for further detail, is well worth a read for all therapists and counsellors as the knowledge can be applied to other health care professions.
Key facts about PEM
- Exertional trigger: physical, cognitive, sensory (touch, sound, smell) and/or emotional
- Onset: tends to be delayed, on average 1-2 days after exertion
- Duration: can last several days, or sometimes months or longer
- Repeated triggering of PEM can lead to further deterioration in symptoms, therefore the aim is to avoid/minimise PEM.
from the Physios for ME Guide to PEM
David Tuller on Chronic Denial
David Tuller, journalist and academic, is the Berkeley-based enemy of all things gaslighty.
This article sees him turn his talents to dismantling the arguments that Long Covid is a psychosomatic illness. In the past he’s been part of the team that challenged the PACE Trial successfully. In his latest piece he interviews Long Covid activists and shares insights from the history of MECFS. He brings skills and vision from years working on HIV/AIDS, MECFS and is a valuable Long Covid ally.
For years, patients protested, to little avail, that the presence of post-exertional malaise meant that the favored treatments, in particular graded exercise therapy, were not only ineffective but potentially harmful. Finally, in 2015, the U.S. Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) published a major review of the scientific literature. “It is clear from the evidence,” the group concluded, “that ME/CFS is a serious, chronic, complex, and multi-system disease that frequently and dramatically limits the activities of affected patients.” The report was one of a number of developments that dealt a significant blow to the prevailing psycho-behavioral paradigm, opening the door for further changes.
David Tuller writing in Chronic Denial published by OpenMindedMag
Further good reads from this month
The following articles are just as strongly recommended as the ones above – I just ran out of time to include quotes and lay them out nicely.
History of gaslighting
Long Covid Advocacy has published a two part series of article on gaslighting, the use of cognitive therapies and related issues in Long Covid. I found them a little difficult to read with complex sentence structure and technical terminology but the subject matter and content is very interesting.
- part one – Mindfulness Rebranded: Misappropriation in Modern Medicine – How Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Vision of Mindfulness Became Medical Dogma
- part two – Behind the Biological Veneer: A Closer Look at the BMJ, SIRPA and Garner’s Framing of Chronic Illness – The Weaponisation of Cognitive Therapies in Mind-Body Medicine (13 minute read with option to listen to audio version)
Experiences of diagnosis and long waits for treatment
Rebecca Thomas, Health Correspondent at the UK’s Independent Newspaper explores the experiences of women with long term health problems (including endometriosis, hypothyroidism) in ‘I’m in pain with endometriosis almost daily but have to justify how bad it is to get care I need’
Psychology Today (US based publication) on the harm caused by invalidating patient’s symptoms
Alison Escalante M.D. writing in Psychology Today clearly outlines the damage done by gaslighting and invalidating in her article The Negative Consequences of Invalidating Patients’ Symptoms – Patients suffer when clinicians dismiss, ignore, or minimize symptoms which looks at recent research into the topic.
POTScast – biological sex differences in POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome)
Strongly recommend this fascinating episode of the long-running podcast that covers all things POTSy. It explores diagnostic delay, incorrect attribution of symptoms, patient experiences and more through research that compared and contrasted the different experiences of men and women with POTS in Australia. It’s a deep-dive with a really thoughtful interviewer and interviewee: they successfully break down the complexities of the research and make the work accessible.
Travelling art installation – ‘I would be here if I could’
This BBC report features a beautiful and thought-provoking art work by Alison Larkman. From the BBC article:
An immersive art installation that invites people to “disappear” inside a mirrored box to understand life with chronic fatigue syndrome, is coming to the West Country.
Created by Bristol artist Alison Larkman, Mirrorbox plays messages from ME and long Covid patients explaining why a particular location is special to them, and why their condition means they cannot be there themselves.
Visit Alison Larkman’s website for this beautiful project and find out more.
A carer’s perspective
Emma Gore-Lloyd from the ThereforME team of campaigners (pushing for better NHS treatment in the UK for people with ME and Long Covid) has written an open-hearted and honest article called The A to Z of becoming a carer. We look at just two letters here:
I is for Isolation and Intimacy
James only sees me and the couple of visitors he can handle. I do what I can to make his world less small. I also feel isolated. No-one else really understands.
Caring for someone in this way is pretty intimate. He’s had to be vulnerable in ways that aren’t comfortable for anyone. I can see how it could break a relationship.
J is for Jobs
James is lucky to have an employer that offers decent sick leave. Nevertheless, I worry about the future.⠀⠀⠀
As for me, I fear not being able to contain my emotions at work. Once, after a difficult call with the doctor’s surgery, a kind colleague covered half a lesson for me whilst I had a cry. ⠀
It gives an idea of how the daily tasks and bigger worries interact and is an insightful read.
Ready anything good recently?
We’re keen to share good research and other articles and news related to chronic illness and psychological support – if you find something you think is worth sharing then let us know! We’ll consider academic articles, journalism, films, book reviews etc…
Photo credit: Thanks to Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash for the photo at the top of this post
