Wessely

Trial By Error: A Letter to Psychological Medicine about Error in MUS Paper from Sir Simon and Colleagues

13 April 2021 by David Tuller

By David Tuller, DrPH

I have previously documented that some of the leading experts in â€œmedically unexplained symptomsâ€ (MUS) have regularly misstated a core finding from a seminal study in their field. The studyâ€””The cost of somatisation among the working-age population in England for the year 2008â€“2009â€â€”was published in 2010 in the journal Mental Health in Family Practice.

The same mistake has been repeated in journal after journal, and at least a couple of these instances have been corrected. It has recently been brought to my attention by a shrewd observer that the venerable journal Psychological Medicine published one such study two years ago, with Professor Sir Simon Wessely as a co-author.

Trial By Error: Journal of Health Psychology Publishes Hughes-Tuller Critique of Wessely-Chalder CBT Claims

10 April 2021 by David Tuller

By David Tuller, DrPH

What kind of researchers would publish obviously misleading figures about their favorite intervention in a study abstract? And who would make causal claims in a paper while simultaneously pointing out that the study design does not allow for causal claims? Well, it seems Professor Sir Wessely and Professor Trudie Chalder, along with three of their colleagues from King’s College London, would do both of those things.

Another question is why would the purportedly rigorous Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine publish a paper that included misleading figures in a study abstract and made unwarranted causal claims? What happened with the peer review process that such obvious failings were not noticed, or not revised if they were? Did the journal recognize that it would need to be especially rigorous when reviewing a paper co-authored by the sponsoring society’s immediate past president, and that any weaknesses exposed later on would reflect especially badly on all involved?

Trial By Error: Hughes-Tuller Comment on Wessely-Chalder CBT Study Rejected by Journal, Posted Here

15 February 2021 by David Tuller

By David Tuller, DrPH

Last fall, Professor Sir Simon Wessely and Professor Trudie Chalder were among several co-authors of a study published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. The study purported to prove that years of provision of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) to patients with “chronic fatigue” and “chronic fatigue syndrome” proved that the intervention was a success. I previously pointed out myriad problem in this post last August.

Trial By Error: More CBT Research from Sir Simon and Professor Chalder

12 August 2020 by David Tuller

By David Tuller, DrPH

(*Thanks to the the very informed discussion–and discussants–on the Science For ME forum for alerting me to this study and its many problems!)

In 2011, Professor Trudie Chalder declared at a press conference for the high-profile PACE trial that twice as many chronic fatigue syndrome patients who received cognitive behavior therapy and graded exercise therapy got â€œback to normalâ€ compared to those in the two comparison arms. Although the statement was a dramatic misrepresentation of the findings just reported in The Lancet, Professor Chalderâ€™s comments received international media attention and helped her and and her co-investigators position the trial as a success.