Where does Gulf war syndrome fit in?
I’d read about people with Gulf war syndrome in newspapers. They looked incredibly like my CFS patients except they were in uniform. […] Wessely gets taken apart in the comments. Unfortunately, many doctors believe him. Other folk do, too, because of the credulity lent his theories by his medical degree. No matter how much they’re debunked. No matter how much the people right in front of their faces talk about their own experience. It’s demon possession, hysteria, multiple sclerosis, and hyperemesis gravidarum all over again. Why can they not see this? Because they don’t want to admit that they don’t know everything, perhaps? I think that’s a component, but there’s more to it. Here’s my current take: These psychologisers are believed, because they are the people who are reinforcing existing prejudice. I think that popular conceptions of CFS are heavily gendered: If a disease is suffered more often by women, we all know they’re doing it to themselves, don’t we? And if people – especia
