8) Link to the paper: Bakken et al. 2026. Making recovery conceivable: perspectives from healthcare professionals using psychologically and behaviourally informed approaches to chronic fatigue syndrome.

7) The paper writes: "For clinicians, perceived risks extended beyond the therapeutic relationship to professional legitimacy, criticism from colleagues and the public, regulatory scrutiny, and possible legal repercussions."

6) Several clinicians also reported being criticised for not believing patients or for minimising their suffering, highlighting the moral and professional stakes involved.

5) Some expressed residual diagnostic uncertainty (perhaps something was overlooked) or concern that future research might show a biomedical abnormality "with little or no role for the processes they currently targeted."

4) But the interesting thing about the paper is that it also includes some reflection from these therapists: what if we're wrong? We don't see that very often because being confident and persuasive is part of the treatment approach towards recovery.

3) The paper highlights several teams such as that ME/CFS patients often end up in no-man's-land, that it's important to validate their experiences, build trust and offer a potential explanation for their symptoms in terms of stress and the body's alarms systems.

2) The study interviewed 16 healthcare professionals who take a 'psychologically and behaviourally informed approach' and believe that this helps patients recover from ME/CFS. The interviews give insight into their experience, how they view patients and their approach.

1 🇳🇴) In this Norwegian study, therapists using a psychosomatic approach to ME/CFS expressed "concern about how current approaches might be viewed if future research were to establish a treatable biological dysfunction."

Thanks for sharing! I have a great appreciation for your advocacy work on the PACE trial data. Great to see you on Bluesky.

2) More info, including the application form and criteria can be found here:

1) 🇩🇪 The German Society for ME/CFS (Deutsche Gesellschaft für ME/CFS) has its own small research program to fund smaller exploratory studies. €30,000 is awarded each year. Only researchers affiliated with an institution in Germany can apply. Deadline: 15 november.

Can't see any info on this so possibly not.

7) The Ramsay research program has been quite successful. Since 2016, 36 studies have been supported by the program resulting in 61 publications. It supported researchers such as Scheibenbogen, Wüst, Cambridge, Prusty, Younger, and many others.

5) This second, invite-only stage will start in December with the following dates: - Invitation to submit full proposal: December 4, 2026 - Full proposal deadline: January 8, 2027 Invited applicants will receive detailed submission instructions and templates.

4) A subset of applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal for double-blind peer review Applications will receive two independent peer-reviews and will be ranked numerically on a defined scale based on significance, innovation, approach, and overall impact.

3) The Ramsay Scholars Grant Program uses a two-step application and review process. The Step 1 Research Plan is intended to provide a concise (~ 800 words) overview of the project concept and fit with the Ramsay program.

2) The funding categories include: - $50,000 for PhD students for one year - up to $100,000 for post-doctoral / new faculty / returning faculty for over two years - up to $150,000 for the collaborative research award over two years