Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) Researchers Receive Threats From Militants.

There was a report in The Observer (UK) on 21st August 2011 which indicated that some researchers into CFS received death threats if they suggested that there was a psychological component to this condition.

I was intrigued by this report because a few years ago I wrote a critical but not unkind book review for 'Evangelicals Now' on a title called "On Eagle's Wings" which proposed a Christian perspective on ME. I took issue with some of the unhelpful aspects of this book and suggested that this was a treatable psychosomatic illness. I hasten to add that 'psychosomatic' does not mean it is unreal or that it is not distressing. But after the review was published I received a flurry of rancorous letters denouncing me personally.

Many accused me of saying things I had not said in my review. What was clear from these letters was a profound sense of shame the writers felt at being labelled as having a psychological, rather than a physical, illness. Nothing in my review intimated that I despised people with psychological illnesses but that was something these correspondents bitterly projected onto me. I couldn't help reflecting that this feeling of shame, self loathing, alienation, however one describes it, was possibly a major component of the underlying condition.

Clearly that sense of shame was an aggravating feature of the condition they suffered - and I addressed that sympathetically in my review. I hope this recent news report will give some cause for self reflection among those who press for a particular interpretation of ME and will be more gracious to those who genuinely seek to help even if they differ in opinion.