Professor Catastrophe - Simon Wessely

Part One - The Wessely Files

Professor Simon Wessely was in the news recently (Jan 2023) due to the announcement that he was being made a Non-Executive director of NHS England. A collective groan & concerns arose from around the world from those who are rather more well informed on Wessley's problematic history. At the same time, pretty much to the day, Long Covid targets were removed by NHS England and the condition deprioritised. Yet it wasn't just Long Covid in the firing zone. On the same day a Parliamentary question was asked by David Warburton MP on if there would be more funding for ME, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis? Helen Whatley responded with a purple prose no. A quick google search shows social and professional links between Wessely & Whately. She is co-chair on the APPG for Mental Health & Wessley chaired the review of the Mental Health Act. Correlation or causation - it's difficult to know, but when has correlation ever been an problem for the BPS school? Yet this means that the targets for waiting lists to Long Covid clinics & funding have turned to dust. Are we overreacting? Catastrophising?

So, catastrophisation is a well known & valid psychological process. It's essentially running to the worst case scenario or unrealistic harmful thought conclusions. People with ME are familiar with this concept as it's something the Cognitive Behavioural Model loves to throw into the mix. "You're catrasphrophising your pain, it's not that bad" "Your overreaction to the fear of exercise is keeping you in bed." "Calm down love." There's all sorts of fancy names for it 'fear avoidance' 'somatisation' & 'mass sociogenic illness'.

But what happens when you have a leading, the leading figure in the field, who has dominated the discourse the decades obsessed & a self-confessed fascinator with mass sociogenic illness. Who believes (& it is just a belief we're not talking proof) that people are catastrophising. Isn't it his catastrophising that's the problem? The short answer is fucking awful real world consequences for a generation.

Put your catasrophy goggles on and let's find out in more detail.

Camelford Water Incident - The Beast of Bodmin

Image: ‘The Sun Sets at Bodmin Moor’ Lydia Dovelou.

So, the Camelford water incident in Cornwall. In 1988 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate was mistakenly put into the water supply. It is used in the water purification process but this was at x3000 over the regulated limit. Deemed 'safe' by the authorities it was stripping the lead & copper from pipes as it turned into sulphuric acid. No problem you just had to mix it with orange juice to hide the taste & ignore your hair turning green & nails blue. Yet the problems really began when people began reporting long-term symptoms. Need a fall guy, a nice manky scapegoat, a way to avoid institutional blame & insurance claims - enter the biopsychosocial model & Professor Catastrophe, Simon Wessely.

In 1995 the 'Legend of Camelford' was discovered, no this wasn't the Beast of Bodmin ranging up to Camelford in the north east of the moor but ho ho ho the residents silly delusional thoughts or in big words social & psychological factors. Maybe all that Beast exposure & the media frenzy were turning them into gullible prime hysterical paps? The paper 'The Legend of Camelford' by Wessely & David read in a familiar argument to those with ME.

"It is argued that the most likely explanation of these complaints is that the perception of normal and benign somatic symptoms among residents and health professionals was heightened and attributed to an external, physical cause. Other influences, including perceived increases in anxiety-related symptoms, somatization disorders, and subsequent litigation are discussed."

In other words, Wessely claimed that the peopke of Camelfords symptoms were a result of being unduly influenced by the media & they created their symptoms through hypervigilance & health anxiety. In other words it wasn't an external 'real' cause but an internal process, 'in their heads', mass hysteria (the old fashioned word for mass sociogenic/somatic illness). What happened to the residents of Camelford was a decades long battle for recognition, compensation & belief. In 1991 South West Water Authority were fined & in 1996 148 residents accepted out of court damages. People suffered horror; dementia, delusions, suicide, beta amyloid angiopathy not due to their catastophisation but because of aluminium poisoning. In one bone biopsy they"found a ring of aluminium like the rings you see in trees that could not have resulted from normal aluminium absorption." . Only in 2013 did they recieve an apology from the Government, 25 yrs later. Camelot had fallen. Apology or admitance of error from Wessely - not on your nelly.

But surely anyone could make this mistake of gettting confused between anxiety, media hype & poisoning? It wouldn't happen again, would it?

Gulf War Syndrome - Babylon Rising

Image: The Tower of Babel, Babylon, Wikimedia Commons.

In May 2022 it was finally proven by US scientists that Gulf War Syndrome was caused by the toxic nerve-agent gas Sarin. This was released into the air when Iraqi chemical weapons were bombed. 50 000 UK troops served in the Gulf War when Saddam Hussain invaded Kuwait in 1990-91. It is estimated that 33 000 live with Gulf War Syndrome in the UK, 30 yrs later. Over 100 000 in the US are still left without treatment & recognition, in total 250 000 were affected. The study clearly indicated there was a genetic reason some soldiers remained ill - a weaker functioning PON1 gene.

GWS is a condition that shares many symptoms with ME; fatigue, GI issues, muscle pain & cognitive dysfunction. All 'vague' meaningless, not really real symptoms that can be whacked into a 'syndrome'. Yet for 30 yrs sufferers have been disbeleived, left with no treatment & little meaningful research. There condition was seen as psychological (sound familiar?) The National Gulf Veterans and Families Association stated:

"For 30 years they have been disowned, ignored and lied to by consecutive governments, with no positive answers to their questions about exposure to toxic substances and gases and the affect it had on them both physically and mentally,"

So, why did this pernicious & false narrative hang around the scientific & government communities like a bad smell for so long? Enter Professor Catastrophy. After his stint in ME he became a director of the Gulf War Illness Research Unit in 1996 which became the King's Centre for Military Health Research in London and an adviser to the Ministry of Defence. This was a disaster for UK service men & women. He stated that:

"Something to do with the Gulf has affected health and no-one serious has ever disputed that.

"Is there a problem? Yes there is. Is it Gulf War Syndrome or isn't it? I think that's a statistical and technical question that's of minor interest."

Wessely claimed the GWS did not exist as a "distinct illness." Here we have the classic slight of hand - of cause it 'exists' but not really as a 'proper' disease with a physical cause. The lot of thousands had been thrown into the poisonous well of 'medically unexplained symptoms'. His advice & research informed the Ministry of Defences view:

"The research has indicated that there is no illness which is specific to Gulf veterans."

Now it's one thing to disbelieve you, it's another to use it to remove care & pensions. Which is exactly what happened. Thousands of soldiers were abandoned with long-term disability because it was their psychological weakness that was causing their illness. The blame could not be put on the MoD. Bastards, I hear you call, absobloodylutley. Cheaper though.

"The only thing that could have affected so many different people was stress, especially anxiety about chemical weapons, misinformation about Gulf war syndrome & the many vaccinations Gulf troops received." Wessely

Like in Camelford the media & false news was seen to be fanning the flames as "the transmission of rumour was a significant part of the very construction of the condition itself.” Wessely. When mass poisoning via an oil spill occured in Shetland Wessely caroused that they were "lucky" as they hadn't been inflamed by the irresponsible coverage. They also had their "dour Gaelic stoicism" even though they are mainly Scandanavian in origin. Good job it didn't reach those with Viking genes!

Being a stick in the mud & cleaving ever stronger to his psychological explanations for environmental poisoning he denied the evidence repeatedly. The talk he gave in 2006 at Gresham shows this (trigger warning if you watch it). Something tells me Wessley needs to embrace a growth mindset. Professor Catastrophe claimed in 2011:

"I don't think we're ever going to be able to take it any further now,"

"Even if you gave me £10m [for research], I wouldn't know what to do with it.

Well the answer is quite obvious - of course a psychiatrist doesn't know what to do with £10 million pounds for a physical, chemical & toxicological problem. He could of offered it to Professor Robert Haley, Professor of Internal Medicine and Chief of the Division of Epidemiology though who worked for years to try & find the cause & finally got there when he discovered the Sarin posioning & PON1 gene.

Did Wessely issue an apology & realise his 'science' was faulty? Of course not although he did get a medal himself, in 2013 Wessely was awarded a Knighthood for service to Military Healthcare. At least 33 000 & their families might disagree.

"I will not be ashamed to say "I know not,"nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery." Revised Hippocratic Oath.

World Trade Centre Syndrome - Demons in the Mind

Image: Mark Rodgers

So was it third time lucky for those who survived or were involved in the rescue effort after the attack on the World Trade Centre, aka 9/11 in 2001? Would Wessely learn that environmental pollutants can have a serious long-term effect on health?

Well no, why change tack when you've well & truly thrown your colours into the ring. In 2002 Wessely wrote an article in Spiked declaiming the 'vague' symptoms the apparant 'toxins' & the 'environment' in World Trade Syndrome. The ubiquitous syndrome reared it's stupid head again of over anxious, gullible, hysterical people creating their symptoms through catastrapisation - sigh.

"Anthraxiety and World Trade Centre Syndrome are the latest consequences of an ideology that tells us that our physical environment is responsible for most of our bodily discomforts and ills." Wessely.

Its all the silly media & politicans fault according to Wessely. Obviously not Gaelic enough - maybe we all just need to move to Shetland? In 'Responding to Mass Psychogenic Illness' in the NEJM he clearly states:

"In a previous era, spirits and demons oppressed us. Although they have been replaced by our contemporary concern about invisible viruses, chemicals and toxins, the mechanisms of contagious fear remain the same... To the majority of observers, including most professionals, these symptoms are indeed all in the mind"

In the Spiked article Wessely derides (a common tactic) the fear from 'Anthraxiety'. This was when people were concerned about recieving Anthrax in the post. Yet is Wessely just projecting his own fears & catastrophisation onto others? Is this just a DARVO tactic to deflect from genuine criticism? It's ok you don't have to admit errror just shout 'terrorist' 'activist' 'militant' 'single mother' 'promiscuous swarm of foreign peoples' 'Ban the Bash' 'small boats' & the problem goes away. This is a man who claimed his post was X-rayed for years. But there's enough on that for another blog.

The jumping the gun to Unexplained Medical Symptoms in World Trade Syndrome happened with depressing reliability. Wessely really is a one-minute man. Finding grey areas in medicine and falsely declaring them black and white & hanging on to them for all they are worth has serious real world devastating consequences for sufferers. Maybe it's wise to actually look at physical causation & not demonise them as demons. Science (not psychiatry) needs to be allowed to be thorough, a full service needs to be done. Do you actually write your car off as being anxious without even looking under the bonnet? The car needs a mechanic not a postman making claims outside his expertise.

So, the question remains - were the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of toxic dust containing 2500 known contaminants anything to 'worry' about? Including asbestos, crystalline silica, lead, cadmium, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, mercury. We really are entering the false balance fallacy here - where it seems that 2 sides of an arguments are equally valid but one side is an actual quack fest. Bringing Wessely in is like asking a flat earther to a debate.

Yet again we had the authorites covering up the extent of the risk, the 'expert' psychs calling 'anxiety' 'mass sociogenic illness' & failure to pay for health costs or compensation. Bush ordered the EPA to make reassuring statements regarding air quality on National Security grounds. Whitman, administrator of the EPA stated the area ws environmentally safe. Guilani said "the air quality is safe and acceptable." (All sounding familiar with Covid?)

Sufferers again had to go through complex legal disputes to gain recognition that harm had been done. It was only in 2011 that the Zadroga Act was passed when $4.2 billion was allocated to create the World Trade Health Centre Program which provides testing & treatment.

It has been estimated that 18 000 developed illness as a result of the toxic dust. 60 000 registered as potentially vulnerable on the WTC Health Program. 400 000 directly affected. The physical consequences of long term illness are undeniable, the suffering heartbreaking: Interstital fibrosis, Cancer, Asthma, GERD, Chronic Respiratory disorders, Silicosis, negative feotal developement, 247 NYPD dead, 299 firefighters dead, 30-40% of the firefighters invloved had persistant symptoms with little improvement over 6 yrs. More people died from long term illness than the attack itself.

Of course there were psychological consequences but we are talking about psychiatrists dismissing genuine physical suffering here through psychosocial ducking & diving. Don't think that Wessely is up for counselling, depression screening, psychological suffering after war or terrorism, pyschological screening, mental health awareness weeks , Invictus or sport as therapy, or PTSD he's critical of the lot. It's mainly be resiliant & pull yourself up by your bootstraps territory. Yet a little more than resilance & 'dour gaelic stoicism' is needed & a little more fucking respect.

Iranian Schoolgirls - Time for a Reality Check?

Yet, even in the course of writing this blog, hoping these catastrophic musing from Wessely were a blast from the past, I was proved wrong. On the 3rd March, 2023 an article published by Reality Check on BBC News featured Wessely with his prime theory. The issue at hand is the fact that over 1000 young women in schools have fallen ill from a wave of poisonings (sound familar?). He commented that:

"key epidemiological factors" led him to believe these were not a chain of poisonings, but were instead a case of "mass sociogenic illness"."

So what are these key epidemiological factors (long word so he must be correct)? Being a woman was central to his conclusion. Hurray, that old chestnut. Not thorough testing, a trip on the ground to investigate, an expertise in Iranian politics. No, having a vagina did it. The fact that males and females are separated; that Iranian women are protesting in a highly dangerous climate or that women in education is an issue of contention and are a centre for anti-government protest had nothing to do with it. He continues...

"The early stages of poisoning by most things are pretty similar, your pulse starts to race, you feel faint, you go pale, you get butterflies in your stomach, you feel shaky."

Now do you think you could tell the difference from feeling a bit nervous & being poisoned? Wessely obviously doesn't think so, but they are just silly young girls what would they know? The history of hysteria is essentially the demonisation of unmarried, 'dangerous' women. Thanks Wessely for reminding us of how stupid it sounds. Dismissal of personal testimony & women being unreliable narrators were/are (it's not past tense) central to hysteria.

"she and her classmates smelled "something very strange". It was "so unpleasant, like rotten fruit but much more pungent."

The Iranian Interior Ministry have been quite clear that these are toxic gas attacks and have arrested over 100 people. Since these arrests the number of poisonings have dramatically reduced. Leaders in Iran have called for serious punishment with the Ayatollah calling them "unforgivable". Noone in Iran is claiming that over 300 hospitilisations are mass sociogenic illness. Maybe Wessely wouldn't be as safe in the middle east as he claims?

"Iraq and Afghanistan where quite frankly I feel a lot safer." Wessely

So from his comfy armchair in London, Wessely can flex his toxicology muscles & do a nice little sticking plaster quote for a whole female movement & demean it with one phone call. Amazing what one can do if you're white, male with lots of glittery titles.

Lessons from the Deep

The silver lining through all of this horror is that the people of Camelford, the soldiers of the Gulf War, those affected by 9/11 have their recognition, their compensation & their inquiries. Even if it was deeply unjust that they had to go through that process. Those with ME don't, there is no inquiry or Zagroda Act for them just social stigma & neglect. For the people with ME, whose lives have been devastated through denial, false claims, lack of treatment & research, are still in limbo. Wesselys involvement in the dismissal of ME as a real physical illness is profound & follows the - jump to false conclusions, psychologisation, refusal of financial support - playbook of the above incidents. This is the Greatest Medical Scandal of the 21st Century as called by George Monbiot, Carol Monohan MP & Barristor Valerie Eliot Smith . Yet the details of this deserve a blog of it's own.

Click here for - Part Two of The Wessely Files -The Wessely Wizard of Oz