Scheme threatens to waste millions on therapy with no proven benefits

Published on Monday 21 July 2008 21:32

Only last week, at a conference at the University of East Anglia, professors Mick Cooper and Robert Elliott, of Strathclyde University, exposed the "myth" of the efficacy of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), which, nevertheless, still thrives, suggesting that, not only is it not as "good to talk" as your headline proclaims ("It's good to talk ... £3m plan offers therapy on the phone", 16 July), but it is probably a waste of £3 million.

The results of every study which purports to show the benefits of CBT, examined in isolation or in concert with others, leave serious question marks over their design, validity and reliability. Yet CBT remains the favoured choice, and not only for depression and anxiety; there doesn't seem to be a condition it is not claimed to help. People with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) sometimes, erroneously, said to be synonymous with chronic fatigue syndrome, do not routinely have depression but they're levered into CBT anyway.

The government is planning to invest unprecedented sums, increasing year on year, before it knows any outcome; imagine budgeting to spend more money in 2010 and even more in 2011 before you know the results for your outlay in 2009.

Incredibly, even when those who favour this unproven treatment have bulldozed it through, they are still conducting multi-million pound trials with patients who have been referred for treatment, not experiment, a practice which would be unthinkable with drugs testing, for example. There is no evidence of lasting benefit, without relapse, for ME sufferers, and hundreds of thousands of people remain ill.

Rather than use traditional methods of experimental design, such as double-blind, randomised, controlled trials, the government seems to favour an assumed authority, believing that if you say something often and loudly enough it will become true.

(DR) JOHN H GREENSMITH

North Street

Bristol

The millions wasted onsuspect and unproven CBT would be better spent on biomedical research into the various illnesses it is purported to treat. If it were a drug, it would not be used without stringent medical trials; these have not been done. It seems to be a snake oil type of "cure-all", designed to pour money into its practitioners' coffers.

Unfortunately for those sufferers of the neurological illness myalgic encephalomyelitis, CBT is touted by psychiatrists as a cure when it in fact has been found to make ME worse. Encouraging ME sufferers to increase their activity without treating the underlying heart, viral and possibly parasitic condition involved is extremely dangerous and could prove fatal.

ME remains the only neurological illness in the UK to be "treated" solely by psychiatric means. No government money has ever been spent on biomedical research or treatment; all money has gone to psychiatrists. This is a national scandal.

HILARY PATTEN

Beaconsfield Way

Frome, Somerset

Despite the problems repeatedly highlighted by researchers and academics, the CBT juggernaut rolls on to seemingly treat all modern man's ills, courtesy of poorly informed MPs.

It reminds me of a spoof record I once heard played on the John Peel Show many years ago called Mouth Jive. It went something like this:

Mouth jive, mouth jive, spread it all over and you come alive.

Chemically proven, gets your friends groovin'.

Mouth jive, cures cancer, fights crime, removes unwanted hair.

ADRIAN BONDS

Nags Head Hill

Bristol