“Psychology’s service to U.S. national security has produced a variant of what the psychiatrist Robert Lifton has called, in his study of Nazi doctors, a “Faustian bargain.” In this case, the price paid has been the American Psychological Association’s collective silence, ethical “numbing,” and, over time, historical amnesia. 3 Indeed, Lifton emphasizes that “the Nazis were not the only ones to involve doctors in evil”; in defense of this argument, he cites the Cold War “role of …American physicians and psychologists employed by the Central Intelligence Agency…for unethical medical and psychological experiments involving drugs and mind manipulation.” 4” EvilTortureCold WarCiaMind ControlAmnesiaHuman Rights ViolationsHuman Rights AbusePsychological ManipulationTraumatic AmnesiaFaustian BargainConspiracy Of SilenceSelective AmnesiaUnethical TreatmentCollective SilenceEthical ViolationsNazi Doctors Book:Torture and Impunity: The U.S. Doctrine of Coercive Interrogation Source: Torture and Impunity: The U.S. Doctrine of Coercive Interrogation
“Imagine you’re diagnosed with epilepsy: what would you think if you weren’t referred to a specialist but taken to a psychiatrist to treat you for your ‘false illness beliefs’? This is what happens to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) patients in the UK. They are told to ignore their symptoms, view themselves as healthy, and increase their exercise. The NHS guidelines amalgamate ME and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, assuming symptoms are caused by deconditioning and ‘exercise phobia’. Sufferers are offered Graded Exercise to increase fitness, and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to rid them of their ‘false illness beliefs’.” PrejudiceStigmaChronic Fatigue SyndromeMyalgic EncephalomyelitisChronic FatigueFalse AssumptionsChronic Illness StigmaFalse BeliefsMedical MalpracticeIllness StigmaGraded ExerciseUnethical Treatment Author:Tanya Marlow
“Many doctors (and medical students) display uncertainty about whether or not CFS/ME is real…Patients with CFS/ME often experience suspicion by health professionals…The (often unintentional) marginalization of many CFS/ME patients represents a failure in medical professionalism, one that may lead to further ethical and practical consequences both for progressive research into CFS/ME and for ethical care... With one exception, doctors attending the seminar were either defensive or silent. In their eyes, the ME patients present were conforming to stereotype (angry, unscientific, unreasonable) and therefore they – the doctors – would not engage with them. Paradoxically, these doctors were themselves conforming to another stereotype, as described by the speaker: ‘Knowledge-formation is also influenced by social and cultural factors. Such encounters have an inherent power differential; there is significant potential…to be unjust from an epistemic point of view.” CfsChronic Fatigue SyndromeMyalgic EncephalomyelitisMe CfsMarginalizationInvisible Illness StigmaPower ImbalanceIatrogenicUnethical TreatmentPower Differential Author:Charotte Blease