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Boudewijn Van Houdenhove
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=== By patient advocates === ==== The biological basis of the disease being neglected ==== Though some<ref>Matthyssen K. (2001, March 22). [http://www.gopress.be/Public/bibnet-article.php?issueDate=2001-03-22&publicationId=10&articleOriginalId=degazetvanantwerpenrug365315ed1022032001-00000&language=dut "Waar mogen wij nog rusten?"] Gazet Van Antwerpen. </ref> have emphasized that Van Houdenhove treated his patients with empathy and compassion, most patient organizations and advocates in Belgium have criticized his approach to ME/CFS. In the 1990s members of patient group ‘Samen Sterk’ wrote that (translated from Dutch): <blockquote>"Although Professor van Houdenhove is apparently concerned about CFS patients, one increasingly gets the feeling that his interviews in the popular press are an advertising stunt for his field of expertise and the psychosomatic rehabilitation department of the UZ Pellenberg."<ref name=":4">Van Houdenhove B. 2001. [https://books.google.be/books?id=eS7ZED-n8AUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=moe+in+tijden+van+stress&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjxyPOxpIDcAhULJ1AKHS1TC2wQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=moe%20in%20tijden%20van%20stress&f=false Moe in tijden van stress. Luisteren naar het chronischevermoeidheidssyndroom.] Tielt: Lannoo, pp 71-72.</ref></blockquote> In 2002, patient advocate and published researcher Anna Wood decried the fact Van Houdenhove was appointed to lead the ME/CFS reference center at the University of Leuven: <blockquote>"How unfortunate that professor Boudewijn Van Houdenhove is linked to the K.U. Leuven that he gets publicity rather than someone else.[…] With the gross imbalance of research efforts and money being out into the psychological side of CFS, patients with this disease will have to wait extra-long before there is any progress into understanding the processes, finding the cause and ultimately a cure for their disease."<ref name=":9">Wood A. (2002 May 30). Forum: Chronische vermoeidheid. Campuskrant. Retrieved from: https://nieuws.kuleuven.be/nl/campuskrant/0102/13/forum--chronische-vermoeidheid</ref></blockquote> Even those who welcome a more holistic approach to ME/CFS like Stefan Pasture of the [https://sites.google.com/site/cvsevenwicht/ CVS-Society] and [http://www.sonjan.be/lichtwerker/helewaut-marie Marie Helewaut] of patient organization Anamkara<ref>Debusschere B. (2002 April 9). Polarisering onder cvs-patiënten en artsen. De Morgen. Retrieved from: http://www.gopress.be/Public/bibnet-article.php?issueDate=2002-04-09&publicationId=1&articleOriginalId=demorgenpersgroep09-cvskader9042002-00000&language=dut</ref> have criticized Van Houdenhove for treating the disease exclusively from a psychiatric angle. Stefan Pasture for example wrote (translated from Dutch): <blockquote>"One of the few who can express how CFS patients feel is Prof. Van Houdenhove. But that's precisely why I don't understand why his ME/CFS reference centre pays so little attention to the physical side of the disease. Van Houdenhove does refer to neurobiological dysfunctions in his book, but the reference centre does no attempt to map them out. Of course, acceptance of the disease and learning how to deal with it are crucial. However, this must not result in the biological basis of the disease being neglected."<ref>Van Houdenhove, B., Luyten P., Vandenberghe, J. (eds). 2010. [https://books.google.be/books?id=Faj8ZwEACAAJ&dq=luisteren+naar+het+lichaam+het+dualisme+voorbij&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjt4KzspoDcAhXMaVAKHQhiCHYQ6AEIKDAA Luisteren naar het lichaam. Het dualisme voorbij.] Tielt: Lannoo.</ref></blockquote> ====A narrative of ME/CFS that conflicts with how patients experience it ==== In a notable television debate in 2006, Van Houdenhove was heavily criticized by ME/CFS patient and former singer/radio host Luk Saffloer for constructing a narrative of ME/CFS that conflicts with how most patients experience it.<ref>De zevende dag. VRT. 05-03-2006. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neaNUwqLsoc</ref> Medical journalist and patient advocate [[Marc van Impe]] noted that Van Houdenhove rarely shows up at international conferences of ME/CFS and that he prefers to philosophize instead of conducting proper research into the disease.<ref name=":5">Van Impe M. (2012 March 16). Een aangekondigde mislukking waarbij we ons moesten neerleggen. Retrieved from: http://www.cvsmeliga.be/home/over-cvs-me/referentiecentra-cognitieve-gedragstherapie/een-aangekondigde-mislukking-waarbij-we-ons-moesten-neerleggen</ref> Van Impe also criticizes Van Houdenhove for writing in reports for insurance companies that there is no organic basis for the diagnosis of ME/CFS.<ref name=":5" /><ref>Van Houdenhove B. redactioneel. [http://www.tijdschriftvoorpsychiatrie.nl/assets/articles/articles_391pdf.pdf Uitdagingen van het chronischevermoeidheidssyndroom]. Tijdschrift voor psychiatrie 42 (2000) 11: 791-792.</ref> Van Houdenhove has often been criticized by patients on the online information website [https://www.me-gids.net/index.html ME-Gids.net.] One patient, named Marlène, wrote him an open letter stating (translated from Dutch): <blockquote>"I hope that you will devote your energy […] to treating people with trauma's, fears and so on and leave people like us, who are ill [with a neurological disease much like] MS or Parkinson’s, alone. Stick to your expertise. And if you really want to get involved in ME/CFS, then listen to patients instead of imposing your opinion on them."<ref name=":8">https://www.me-gids.net/module-ME_CVS_docs-viewpub-tid-1-pid-736.html</ref></blockquote> More recently, [http://www.wakeupcallbeweging.be/ The Wake-Up Call Beweging] has criticized Van Houdenhove for downplaying the value of biomedical research into ME/CFS. Gunther De Bock for example wrote (translated from Dutch): <blockquote>"The articles in which BvH [Boudewijn Van Houdenhove] is involved are always drawn up according to a recurring pattern in which he (1) questions the credibility of biomedical researchers, (2) weakens the scientific value of biomedical findings,(3) portrays the criticism of patients as fanatical and/or negligible, (4) highlights the psychosocial causes of CFS, (5) addresses usefulness of CBT and GET, (6) portrays other treatments as dangerous or a scam, (7) emphasizes that there is no diagnostic marker (8) that only the biopsychosocial model is evidence based (9) and that there is and will not be a pill that cures ME/CFS.”<ref name=":10">De Bock G. (2018 may 5). Retrieved from: https://www.facebook.com/Wake-Up-Call-Beweging-action-group-for-MEcfs-fibromyalgia-sufferers-202494729818299/</ref> </blockquote>
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