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Can you explain how negative media coverage is relevant here? How can a real illness that people are suffering from be affected at all by negative media covera

Can you explain how negative media coverage is relevant here? How can a real illness that people are suffering from be affected at all by negative media coverage? Are you saying that it's something that people are imagining because they are being influenced by media reports? And what do you mean by "politicized"? Where has long covid been politicized? I haven't seen anything like that.

whimsicalism 5y ago
> real illness that people are suffering from be affected at all by negative media coverage Real illnesses that people are suffering from can be psychosomatic or affected by mental status. There is a ton of stigma around suggestions like these, hence the subtext of your comment that a "real illness" is independent from mental state. > And what do you mean by "politicized"? Where has long covid been politicized? I haven't seen anything like that. If you are a researcher and your research suggests that many cases of long covid or CFS have a psychological component or are psychosomatically driven, you will get death threats as well as condemned by advocacy organizations. [0] That is what I mean by politicized. The underlying root of the issue is stigma around any sort of illness that has a psychological component. [0]: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-death-threats-for-scientists https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/chronic-f...
- nicoburns 5y ago
  Is there any evidence that it is psychosomatic? My understanding is that CFS (and long covid which indeed appears to be similar) affects a wide range of people, most often after some kind of viral infection that is very much physical in nature. And furthermore that the most successful treatment programs tend to focus on careful regulating exercise and diet which again seems to be largely physical. Just because the underlying biological mechanism isn't understood doesn't mean that there isn't one. To me CFS seems like a case of a disease neglected by medical science because it's dismissed as being psychosomatic.
  - whimsicalism 5y ago
    CFS is far from neglected and there have been a number of studies attempting to show a physical cause. We've had a number of false positives that have later been debunked. > the most successful treatment programs tend to focus on careful regulating exercise and diet which again seems to be largely physical. This is coming from the PACE study, I'm assuming. PACE is largely viewed as suggesting that CFS has a substantial psychological component. There is a bunch of other literature on this as well. Exercise and diet changes are usually successful treatments for psychosomatic-like illnesses, so I disagree that this treatment means that it is a physical disease. Many of the original researchers who provided evidence that the disease is non-physical in nature have since left the field after extensive death threats and harassment. [0] > Reuters contacted a dozen professors, doctors and researchers with experience of analysing or testing potential treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome. All said they had been the target of online harassment because activists objected to their findings. Only two had definite plans to continue researching treatments. [0]: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/science-socialmedia/ https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/science-...
  - ridaj 5y ago
    A study of ~25,000 persons found stronger statistical correlations between the belief in having been infected and long COVID symptoms, than between serology tests of prior infections and long COVID symptoms. Except for the persistent loss-of-taste symptom, which does not correlate with belief in prior infection and only correlates with serology test results. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34747982/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34747982/ The layman interpretation of this is that long COVID is possibly a mental health issue associated with the belief in having had a prior infection, except for the loss-of-taste symptom which is very specific to COVID (vs, say, persistent fatigue). Not to say "it's not real", but maybe "it's not always viral in origin".
    - whimsicalism 5y ago
      Yep. This would line up exactly with what I've said: a post-viral sequelae (with unique post-viral effects for covid) superimposed on a CFS-like disease population that is more driven by psychological factors, both being referred to by the label "long covid."
- false_positives 5y ago
  (Generally) Lets state: 'Real illnesses that people are suffering from can be psychosomatic or affected by mental status.'-all the people saying 'True!', "even plagued by a broken leg may be something like...'handicapping' everyday life" But another take at the same stand, framed as question: "Is the subtext of your comment that a 'real illness" is independent from mental state?"-now everyone... um '...that sounds interesting!' (-; Maybe related (cos Weekend ^^) Comic 'Without Big Will' (in German): > //i.ibb.co/gJsQdWW/3383-OHNE-GROSSEN-WILLEN-FINAL-Mail.png
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

whimsicalism 5y ago

> real illness that people are suffering from be affected at all by negative media coverage Real illnesses that people are suffering from can be psychosomatic or affected by mental status. There is a ton of stigma around suggestions like these, hence the subtext of your comment that a "real illness" is independent from mental state. > And what do you mean by "politicized"? Where has long covid been politicized? I haven't seen anything like that. If you are a researcher and your research suggests that many cases of long covid or CFS have a psychological component or are psychosomatically driven, you will get death threats as well as condemned by advocacy organizations. [0] That is what I mean by politicized. The underlying root of the issue is stigma around any sort of illness that has a psychological component. [0]: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-death-threats-for-scientists https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/chronic-f...

nicoburns 5y ago
Is there any evidence that it is psychosomatic? My understanding is that CFS (and long covid which indeed appears to be similar) affects a wide range of people, most often after some kind of viral infection that is very much physical in nature. And furthermore that the most successful treatment programs tend to focus on careful regulating exercise and diet which again seems to be largely physical. Just because the underlying biological mechanism isn't understood doesn't mean that there isn't one. To me CFS seems like a case of a disease neglected by medical science because it's dismissed as being psychosomatic.
- whimsicalism 5y ago
  CFS is far from neglected and there have been a number of studies attempting to show a physical cause. We've had a number of false positives that have later been debunked. > the most successful treatment programs tend to focus on careful regulating exercise and diet which again seems to be largely physical. This is coming from the PACE study, I'm assuming. PACE is largely viewed as suggesting that CFS has a substantial psychological component. There is a bunch of other literature on this as well. Exercise and diet changes are usually successful treatments for psychosomatic-like illnesses, so I disagree that this treatment means that it is a physical disease. Many of the original researchers who provided evidence that the disease is non-physical in nature have since left the field after extensive death threats and harassment. [0] > Reuters contacted a dozen professors, doctors and researchers with experience of analysing or testing potential treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome. All said they had been the target of online harassment because activists objected to their findings. Only two had definite plans to continue researching treatments. [0]: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/science-socialmedia/ https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/science-...
- ridaj 5y ago
  A study of ~25,000 persons found stronger statistical correlations between the belief in having been infected and long COVID symptoms, than between serology tests of prior infections and long COVID symptoms. Except for the persistent loss-of-taste symptom, which does not correlate with belief in prior infection and only correlates with serology test results. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34747982/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34747982/ The layman interpretation of this is that long COVID is possibly a mental health issue associated with the belief in having had a prior infection, except for the loss-of-taste symptom which is very specific to COVID (vs, say, persistent fatigue). Not to say "it's not real", but maybe "it's not always viral in origin".
  - whimsicalism 5y ago
    Yep. This would line up exactly with what I've said: a post-viral sequelae (with unique post-viral effects for covid) superimposed on a CFS-like disease population that is more driven by psychological factors, both being referred to by the label "long covid."
false_positives 5y ago
(Generally) Lets state: 'Real illnesses that people are suffering from can be psychosomatic or affected by mental status.'-all the people saying 'True!', "even plagued by a broken leg may be something like...'handicapping' everyday life" But another take at the same stand, framed as question: "Is the subtext of your comment that a 'real illness" is independent from mental state?"-now everyone... um '...that sounds interesting!' (-; Maybe related (cos Weekend ^^) Comic 'Without Big Will' (in German): > //i.ibb.co/gJsQdWW/3383-OHNE-GROSSEN-WILLEN-FINAL-Mail.png

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]