Tag: CBT/GET critique

Charities, patients, and researchers are working together to find the cause and effective treatments for ME/CFS

People with ME/CFS feel let down by the medical establishment because almost all biomedical research until recently has been funded by the charity sector. Almost all government funding has gone into research based on a flawed psychosocial model of causation involving abnormal beliefs and behaviours and deconditioning. This research resulted in the current NICE guideline recommendations, published in 2007, for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET).3

Having reviewed clinical trial and patient evidence for these interventions,4 NICE now states in the introduction to the draft of its updated guideline on ME/CFS5 that “because of the harms reported by people with ME/CFS, as well as the committee’s own experience of the effects when people exceed their energy limits, the draft guideline says that any programme based on fixed incremental increases in physical activity or exercise, for example graded exercise therapy (GET), should not be offered for the treatment of ME/CFS.” It also emphasises that CBT is not a treatment or cure for ME/CFS.

Read the full article HERE.

Source: Shepherd C B. Charities, patients, and researchers are working together to find the cause and effective treatments for ME/CFS BMJ 2021; 374 :n1854 doi:10.1136/bmj.n1854 https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n1854.full

The draft updated NICE guidance for ME/CFS highlights the unreliability of subjective outcome measures in non-blinded trials

Abstract:

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recently published its draft updated guideline on the diagnosis and management of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). NICE concluded that ME/CFS is a complex multisystem chronic medical condition for which graded exercise therapy should not be used and cognitive behavioural therapy is only a supportive therapy and not a treatment or cure. The draft guidance also highlighted the unreliability of subjective outcome measures in non-blinded trials. High quality randomised controlled ME/CFS trials are now needed to find pharmacological treatments that lead to substantial objective improvement and restore the ability to work.

Source: Vink M, Vink-Niese A. The draft updated NICE guidance for ME/CFS highlights the unreliability of subjective outcome measures in non-blinded trials. J Health Psychol. 2021 Jan 28:1359105321990810. doi: 10.1177/1359105321990810. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33506707. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33506707/

The concept of ‘illness without disease’ impedes understanding of chronic fatigue syndrome: a response to Sharpe and Greco

Abstract:

In a recent article in Medical Humanities, Sharpe and Greco characterise myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) as an ‘illness without disease’, citing the absence of identified diagnostic markers. They attribute patients’ rejection of psychological and behavioural interventions, such as cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET), to a ‘paradox’ resulting from a supposed failure to acknowledge that ‘there is no good objective evidence of bodily disease’. In response, we explain that understandings about the causes of and treatments for medical complaints have shifted across centuries, and that conditions once thought to be ‘psychosomatic’ have later been determined to have physiological causes.

We also note that Sharpe and Greco do not disclose that leading scientists and physicians believe that ME/CFS is a biomedical disease, and that numerous experts, not just patients, have rejected the research underlying the CBT/GET treatment approach. In conclusion, we remind investigators that medical classifications are always subject to revision based on subsequent research, and we therefore call for more humility before declaring categorically that patients are experiencing ‘illness without disease’.

Source: Lubet S, Tuller D. The concept of ‘illness without disease’ impedes understanding of chronic fatigue syndrome: a response to Sharpe and Greco [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jun 1]. Med Humanit. 2020;medhum-2019-011807. doi:10.1136/medhum-2019-011807 https://mh.bmj.com/content/early/2020/06/01/medhum-2019-011807

Rethinking the Standard of Care for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

For over two decades, the standard of care for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) has been cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET). Both interventions had been recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and the UK NICE guidelines. Behavioral intervention as the clinical standard was given a considerable boost by the 5 million–pound PACE trial, a large multi-arm randomized trial of CBT and GET launched in 2007. This British government–funded trial was intended to definitively answer whether such interventions were beneficial in ME/CFS. In their 2011 and 2013 publications, the PACE trial authors announced with widespread publicity that 22% of their patients had “recovered” and 59–61% had clinically improved across the CBT and GET interventions., 

Read the rest of this article here.

Source: Friedberg, F., Sunnquist, M. & Nacul, L. J GEN INTERN MED (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-019-05375-y https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11606-019-05375-y

Monitoring treatment harm in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: A freedom-of-information study of National Health Service specialist centres in England

Abstract:

The use of graded exercise therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome has attracted considerable controversy. This controversy relates not only to the disputed evidence for treatment efficacy but also to widespread reports from patients that graded exercise therapy, in particular, has caused them harm. We surveyed the National Health Service-affiliated myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome specialist clinics in England to assess how harms following treatment are detected and to examine how patients are warned about the potential for harms.

We sent 57 clinics standardised information requests under the United Kingdom’s Freedom of Information Act. Data were received from 38 clinics. Clinics were highly inconsistent in their approaches to the issue of treatment-related harm. They placed little or no focus on the potential for treatment-related harm in their written information for patients and for staff. Furthermore, no clinic reported any cases of treatment-related harm, despite acknowledging that many patients dropped out of treatment.

In light of these findings, we recommend that clinics develop standardised protocols for anticipating, recording, and remedying harms, and that these protocols allow for therapies to be discontinued immediately whenever harm is identified.

Source: McPhee G, Baldwin A, Kindlon T, Hughes BM. Monitoring treatment harm in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: A freedom-of-information study of National Health Service specialist centres in England. J Health Psychol. 2019 Jun 24:1359105319854532. doi: 10.1177/1359105319854532. [Epub ahead of print] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31234662

Assessment of the scientific rigour of randomized controlled trials on the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy and graded exercise therapy for patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: A systematic review

Abstract:

Cognitive behavioural therapy and graded exercise therapy have been promoted as effective treatments for patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. However, criticism on the scientific rigour of these studies has been raised. This review assessed the methodological quality of studies on the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy and graded exercise therapy. The methodological quality of the 18 included studies was found to be relatively low, as bias was prominently found, affecting the main outcome measures of the studies (fatigue, physical functioning and functional impairment/status). Future research should focus on including more objective outcome measures in a well-defined patient population.

Source: Ahmed SA, Mewes JC, Vrijhoef H. Assessment of the scientific rigour of randomized controlled trials on the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy and graded exercise therapy for patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: A systematic review. J Health Psychol. 2019 May 10:1359105319847261. doi: 10.1177/1359105319847261. [Epub ahead of print] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31072121

Rethinking the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome—a reanalysis and evaluation of findings from a recent major trial of graded exercise and CBT

Abstract:

Background: The PACE trial was a well-powered randomised trial designed to examine the efficacy of graded exercise therapy (GET) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for chronic fatigue syndrome. Reports concluded that both treatments were moderately effective, each leading to recovery in over a fifth of patients. However, the reported analyses did not consistently follow the procedures set out in the published protocol, and it is unclear whether the conclusions are fully justified by the evidence.

Methods: Here, we present results based on the original protocol-specified procedures. Data from a recent Freedom of Information request enabled us to closely approximate these procedures. We also evaluate the conclusions from the trial as a whole.

Results: On the original protocol-specified primary outcome measure – overall improvement rates – there was a significant effect of treatment group. However, the groups receiving CBT or GET did not significantly outperform the Control group after correcting for the number of comparisons specified in the trial protocol. Also, rates of recovery were consistently low and not significantly different across treatment groups. Finally, on secondary measures, significant effects were almost entirely confined to self-report measures. These effects did not endure beyond two years.

Conclusions: These findings raise serious concerns about the robustness of the claims made about the efficacy of CBT and GET. The modest treatment effects obtained on self-report measures in the PACE trial do not exceed what could be reasonably accounted for by participant reporting biases.

Source: Carolyn E. Wilshire, Tom Kindlon, Robert Courtney, Alem Matthees, David Tuller, Keith Geraghty and Bruce Levin. Rethinking the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome—a reanalysis and evaluation of findings from a recent major trial of graded exercise and CBT. BMC PsychologyBMC series. Received: 29 May 2017; Accepted: 22 February 2018; Published: 22 March 2018.  https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-018-0218-3 (Full article) © The Author(s) 2018.

Studies and surveys implicate potential iatrogenic harm of cognitive behavioral therapy and graded exercise therapy for myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome patients

Abstract:

Cognitive behavorial therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) are declared to be effective and safe therapies for Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Medical policies in various countries, e.g. the UK and the Netherlands, recommend CBT and GET as evidence-based treatments. But studies and patient surveys in several countries indicate that CBT often has no effect at all and that GET has detrimental effects in a large subgroup of patients.

Editorial

ME is a disease characterized by distinctive muscular symptoms, including muscle weakness and myalgia after minor exertion lasting for days, neurological symptoms implicating cerebral dysfunction, symptoms indicating circulatory impairment and other symptoms [1,2]. CFS is primarily defined by (unexplained) chronic fatigue, which must be accompanied by at least four out of eight ‘additional’’ symptoms [3]. ME and CFS are incorrectly conceived as ‘similar disorders’ [4]. But the case criteria define three patient groups: ME and/or CFS patients [5], labeled as ME/CFS patients within this context.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) are declared to be effective [6,7] and safe [7,8] therapies for Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Medical policies in various countries, e.g. the UK [9] and the Netherlands [10], recommend CBT and GET as evidence-based treatments.

However various studies implicate that CBT, GET and other behavioral interventions, including graded activity, have negative effects on (subgroups of) ME/CFS patients.

Núñez and co-workers [11] observed that adding CBT and GET to pharmacological treatment had a negative effect on SF-36 physical functioning and pain scores. Jason and others [12,13] found that ‘non-pharmacologic therapies’ had a negative effect on the mean SF- 36 physical functioning score (changes from 5 to -35) of a large subgroup of CFS patients, with lymphocyte subsets data suggesting an elevated humoral immune response (Th2/B Cell). Although ‘Guided graded Exercise Self-help’ (GET) was qualified as “a moderately effective and safe intervention” [14], the investigators acknowledged that a patient subgroup had deteriorated after the GET trial, possibly due to “a worse exacerbation of symptoms in response to GET” [15].

In various surveys [16-18] most ME/CFS patients experienced no improvement after CBT and more than half of the patients reported GET made them worse. A detailed analysis [18] of a large-scale patient survey in the UK [19] shows that, when combinations of therapies are excluded, 73% of the patients they stayed the same after CBT, while 8% of the patients improved and 18% got worse. No less than 74% of the patients reported worsening of their symptoms after GET, 14% of the patients experienced no change and only 12% reported improvement after GET. In a recent patient survey in the Netherlands [20] 11% reported CBT had improved their health situation, 36% experienced no change, and 53% reported CBT had worsened their condition. 63% reported GET had made their symptoms (much) worse and 34% reported no change. Only 3% of the patients experienced improvement after GET. One could argue that patient surveys (through the internet) are potentially prone to many biases, but a study [21] found that ‘’unsolicited’ web-based patient ratings of care correlate well with conventional research findings, i.e. formal measurements.

As affirmed by the medical authorities in the US recently, “ME/CFS is a serious, chronic, complex, multisystem disease” [4] with “strong evidence” indicating that “immunologic and inflammatory pathologic conditions, neurotransmitter signaling disruption, microbiome perturbation, and metabolic or mitochondrial abnormalities are potentially important for the definition and treatment of ME/CFS [22]. Exertion has (prolonged) negative effects in ME/CFS [4]. For that reason studies and surveys indicating potential harm of CBT and GET in large subgroups of ME/CFS patients should be taken seriously. The ‘safety claim’ is at odds with several observations.

References

  1. Dowsett EG, Ramsay AM, McCartney RA, et al. Myalgic Encephalomyelitis – a persistent enteroviral infection? Postgrad. Med. J.66(777), 526-530 (1990).

  2. Ramsay AM, Dowsett EG, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis: Then and now. In Hyde BM, Goldstein J, Levine P, editors. The Clinical and Scientific Basis of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Ottawa: The Nightingale Research Foundation pp. 81-84 (1992).

  3. Fukuda K, Straus SE, Hickie I, et al. The chronic fatigue syndrome: a comprehen­sive approach to its definition and study. Ann. Intern. Med. 121(12), 953-959 (1994).

  4. Institute of Medicine. Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syn­drome: redefining an illness. Washington, (2015).

  5. Twisk FNM. Replacing Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome with Systemic Exercise Intolerance Disease is not the way forward. Diagnostics (Basel). 6(1), 10 (2016).

  6. Malouff JM, Thorsteinsson EB, Rooke SE, et al. Efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome: a meta-analysis. Clin. Psychol. Rev. 28(5), 736-745 (2008).

  7. Larun L, Brurberg KG, Odgaard-Jensen J, et al. Exercise therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 4, CD003200 (2017).

  8. Bleijenberg G, Knoop H. Chronic fatigue syndrome: where to PACE from here? Lancet. 377(9768), 786-788 (2011)

  9. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Chronic fatigue syndrome/ myalgic encephalomyelitis (or encephalopathy): diagnosis and management of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (or encephalopathy) in adults and children. London (UK), (2007).

  10. CBO. Richtlijn diagnose, behandeling, begeleiding en beoordeling van patiënten met het chronisch vermoeidheidssyndroom (CVS). Utrecht (NL), (2013).

  11. Núñez M, Fernández-Solà J, Nuñez E, et al. Health-related quality of life in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: group cognitive behavioural therapy and graded exercise versus usual treatment. A randomised controlled trial with 1 year of follow-up. Clin. Rheumatol. 30(3), 381-389 (2011).

  12. Jason LA, Torres-Harding S, Friedberg F, et al. Non-pharmacologic interventions for CFS: a randomized trial. J. Clin. Psychol. Med. Settings. 14(4), 275-296 (2007).

  13. Jason LA, Torres-Harding S, Brown M, et al. Predictors of change following participation in non-pharmacologic interventions for CFS. Trop. Med. Health. 36(1), 23-32 (2008).

  14. Clark LV, McCrone P, Ridge D, et al. Graded Exercise Therapy guided Self-hElp Treatment (GETSET) for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: a randomised controlled trial in secondary care. J. Psychosom. Res. 5(2), 59-60 (2016).

  15. Cheshire A, Ridge D, Clark L, et al. Why patients with chronic fatigue syndrome/ Myalgic Encephalomyelitis improve or deteriorate with graded exercise therapy. J. Psychosom. Res. 85, 59 (2016).

  16. Kirke KD. PACE investigators’ response is misleading regarding patient survey results. J. Health. Psych. 22(9), 1168-1176 (2017).

  17. Twisk FNM, Maes M. A review on cognitive behavorial therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) in myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) / chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS): CBT/GET is not only ineffective and not evidence-based, but also potentially harmful for many patients. Neuro. Endocrinol. Lett. 30(3), 284-299 (2009).

  18. Geraghty K, Hann M, Kurtev S. Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome patients’ reports of symptom changes following cognitive behavioural therapy, graded exercise therapy and pacing treatments: Analysis of a primary survey compared with secondary surveys. J. Health. Psychol. (2017).

  19. ME Association. “No decisions about me without me”. ME/CFS illness management survey results, part 1. Gawcott, Bucks (England), (2015).

  20. De Kimpe A, Crijnen B, Kuijper J, et al. Zorg voor ME – Enquête onder ME-patiënten naar hun ervaringen met de zorg in Nederland (2016).

  21. Greaves F, Pape UJ, King D, et al. Associations between Internet-based patient ratings and conventional surveys of patient experience in the English NHS: an observational study. BMJ. Qual. Saf. 21(7), 600-605 (2012).

  22. Green CR, Cowan P, Elk R, et al. National Institutes of Health pathways to prevention workshop: Advancing the research on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome. Ann. Intern. Med. 162(12), 860-865 (2015).

Source: Frank N.M. Twisk. Studies and surveys implicate potential iatrogenic harm of cognitive behavioral therapy and graded exercise therapy for myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome patients. Research on Chronic Diseases. http://www.openaccessjournals.com/articles/studies-and-surveys-implicate-potential-iatrogenic-harm-of-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-and-graded-exercise-therapy-for-myalgic-en-12190.html

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome patients’ reports of symptom changes following cognitive behavioural therapy, graded exercise therapy and pacing treatments: Analysis of a primary survey compared with secondary surveys

Abstract:

Cognitive behavioural therapy and graded exercise therapy are promoted as evidence-based treatments for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. This article explores patients’ symptom responses following these treatments versus pacing therapy, an approach favoured by many sufferers. We analyse data from a large cross-sectional patient survey ( n = 1428) and compare our findings with those from comparable patient surveys ( n = 16,665), using a mix of descriptive statistics and regression analysis modelling.

Findings from analysis of primary and secondary surveys suggest that cognitive behavioural therapy is of benefit to a small percentage of patients (8%-35%), graded exercise therapy brings about large negative responses in patients (54%-74%), while pacing is the most favoured treatment with the lowest negative response rate and the highest reported benefit (44%-82%).

Source: Geraghty K, Hann M, Kurtev S.Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome patients’ reports of symptom changes following cognitive behavioural therapy, graded exercise therapy and pacing treatments: Analysis of a primary survey compared with secondary surveys. J Health Psychol. 2017 Aug 1:1359105317726152. doi: 10.1177/1359105317726152. [Epub ahead of print] http://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/hWSxVIBTzDtqisvafkhE/full (Full article)

FITNET’s Internet-Based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Is Ineffective and May Impede Natural Recovery in Adolescents with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. A Review

Abstract:

The Dutch Fatigue In Teenagers on the interNET (FITNET) study claimed that after 6 months, internet based cognitive behaviour therapy in adolescents with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), led to a 63% recovery rate compared to 8% after usual care, and that this was maintained at long term follow up (LTFU).

Our reanalysis shows that their post-hoc definition of recovery included the severely ill, the unblinded trial had no adequate control group and it used lax selection criteria as well as outcomes assessed via questionnaires rather than objective outcomes, further contributing to exaggerated recovery figures. Their decision not to publish the actometer results might suggest that these did not back their recovery claims. Despite these bias creating methodological faults, the trial still found no significant difference in recovery rates (“~60%”) at LTFU, the trial’s primary goal.

This is similar to or worse than the documented 54-94% spontaneous recovery rates within 3-4 years, suggesting that both FITNET and usual care (consisting of cognitive behaviour and graded exercise therapies) are ineffective and might even impede natural recovery in adolescents with ME/CFS. This has implications for the upcoming costly NHS FITNET trial which is a blueprint of the Dutch study, exposing it to similar biases.

Source: Ghatineh S, Vink M. FITNET’s Internet-Based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Is Ineffective and May Impede Natural Recovery in Adolescents with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. A Review. Behav Sci (Basel). 2017 Aug 11;7(3). pii: E52. doi: 10.3390/bs7030052. http://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/7/3/52 (Full article)