music therapy

Trial By Error: My Letter to BMJ Paediatrics Open about the CBT-Music Therapy Study

25 November 2020 by David Tuller

By David Tuller, DrPH

On November 12, I received my latest letter from BMJ’s so-called research integrity office about the pile of potential research misconduct otherwise known as the pediatric study of cognitive behavior therapy and music therapy as a treatment for chronic fatigue after acute EBV. This study was published in April by BMJ Paediatrics Open and immediately came under sharp and justified criticism–including from me.

Trial By Error: Update on BMJ’s CBT-Music Therapy Study (h/t Steinkopf and Tack)

23 November 2020 by David Tuller

By David Tuller, DrPH

I have written multiple posts this year about a Norwegian study of cognitive behavior therapy plus music therapy as a treatment for chronic fatigue after acute EBV infection (aka mononucleosis and glandular fever). The study, published in April by BMJ Paediatrics Open, was rife with methodological and ethical flaws. It should not have been accepted in the first place.

Trial By Error: Columbia Experts Urge BMJ to Retract Problem-Plagued Study

25 July 2020 by David Tuller

By David Tuller, DrPH

On Thursday, Professors Vincent Racaniello and Mady Hornig, both from Columbia University, wrote to BMJ’s research integrity coordinator. I have been corresponding with BMJ, and specifically the research integrity coordinator, about the Norwegian study of cognitive behavior therapy combined with music therapy as a treatment for chronic fatigue in adolescents after acute EBV infection (known in the US as mononucleosis and elsewhere as glandular fever). BMJ Paediatrics Open published the paper a few months ago.

Trial By Error: Another Letter About BMJ’s Music Therapy Study

21 July 2020 by David Tuller

By David Tuller, DrPH

I am still waiting for answers from BMJ about the Norwegian study of cognitive behavior therapy plus music therapy for treatment of chronic fatigue in adolescents after mononucleosis. The study was published in BMJ Paediatrics Open. I have written about it here.

This morning I sent the following letter to the BMJ research integrity coordinator who had responded to the initial letter from me as well as four colleagues–Jonathan Edwards from University College London, Vincent Racaniello and Mady Hornig from Columbia, and John Swartzberg from Berkeley. These colleagues have been cc’d on my exchange with the research integrity coordinator, along with the journal’s editor-in-chief, BMJ’s editorial director, and a Norwegian journalist who has written about the study. My letter is below.

Trial By Error: Nudge for BMJ About Music Therapy; Letter to “Health Anxiety” Expert

3 July 2020 by David Tuller

By David Tuller, DrPH

I have written two more letters and have posted them below.

The first letter is a nudge to BMJ’s research integrity department, which missed a deadline this week for providing me with an update on the status of that music therapy study from Norway. You know, the one that started off as a fully powered trial but failed on multiple metrics and ended up being published as a feasibility study seeking data to support the need for a fully powered trial, as I recently documented. I sent the letter this morning.

Trial By Error: BMJ Responds to Appeals About Norway’s CBT-Music Therapy Study

18 June 2020 by David Tuller

By David Tuller, DrPH

Earlier this week, I sent a nudge to Professor Imti Choonara, editor-in-chief of BMJ Paediatrics Open, and Fiona Godlee, editorial director of BMJ, about a problematic “feasibility study” published a few months ago. That followed a letter two weeks ago, to which I had not received a response. Previous posts on this issue are here and here.