Dr. Simin Ghatineh and Mark Vink, both of whom live with a severe form of ME, have had a paper published in the medical journal, Behavioural Sciences. It’s an evaluation of the Dutch FITNET trial, which claimed to show that internet-based GET and CBT helped adolescents with ME/CFS. As this analysis shows, flawed methodology and poor selection criteria created exaggerated recovery figures. In reality, participants were no better than the control group, and may even have had their recovery impeded. (The latter is in line with other research and numerous patient surveys which demonstrate the harm caused by these interventions.)
This paper is particularly relevant as the NHS prepares to launch its own £1m version of FITNET.