Simon Wessely

Sir Professor Simon Wessely, M.A., M.Sc., M.D., F.R.C.P., M.R.C.Psych., is a British psychiatrist based at King's College London and is President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He became Director of the Chronic Fatigue Research Unit at King's College London in 1994, setting up a clinic for chronic fatigue syndrome at Maudsley Hospital, a psychiatric hospital. Professor Wessely has written of his involvement in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) research. Serving as an advisor to the PACE trial investigators, Professor Wessely has defended the PACE trial, stating "this trial was a landmark in behavioral complex intervention studies."

Notable studies

 * 1990, Old wine in new bottles: neurasthenia and 'ME'
 * 1997, Chronic fatigue syndrome. A practical guide to assessment and management
 * 2000, Diagnosis of psychiatric disorder in clinical evaluation of chronic fatigue syndrome
 * 2007, A Defence of the Randomized Controlled Trial in Mental Health
 * 2010, Failure to detect the novel retrovirus XMRV in chronic fatigue syndrome. See: XMRV
 * 2016, Mortality of people with chronic fatigue syndrome: a retrospective cohort study in England and Wales from the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust Biomedical Research Centre (SLaM BRC) Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) Register The study has been criticized by James Coyne.

Books

 * 1999, Chronic Fatigue and its Syndromes

2012 John Maddox Prize
In November 2012 Professor Wessely was awarded the Maddox Prize by Sense About Science who stated "Simon Wessely, Professor of Psychological Medicine at King's College London, was awarded the Prize for his ambition and courage in the field of ME (chronic fatigue syndrome) and Gulf War syndrome, and the way he has dealt bravely with intimidation and harassment when speaking about his work and that of colleagues."

The awarding of the prize has been criticized by Professor Malcolm Hooper.

Professor Wessely is also a member of the Advisory Council for Sense About Science.

Accusations of abuse
Professor Wessely stated in summer 2011 that he had been the subject of abuse and threats of violence by patients objecting to his research. Professor Wessely claimed in an interview that research into CFS/ME made him feel unsafe, stating that specializing in the problems of war veterans "I now go to Iraq and Afghanistan, where I feel a lot safer." https://sites.google.com/site/pacefoir/pace-ipd_foia-qmul-2014-f73.xlsx

Accusation of "blocking research"
Dr Ian Gibson has criticized Professor Wessely's purely psychological approach to the disease.

Accusations of poor quality research
In 2000 Wessely & fellow researchers were accused of "unsupported conclusions derived from faulty analyses", and responded that "we've been attacked by gremlins" who changed the data on their manuscript.

Camelford water supply contamination
In 1988 the public water supply in Camelford in England was accidentally contaminated with aluminium sulfate. Professor Wessely published a paper in 1995 playing down the effects of the pollution and suggesting significant psychological factors were involved. The government formally and unreservedly apologized in 2013, 25 years later, to those whose health was affected by the water supply contamination.

Past beliefs of stress in Gulf War Illness
Professor Wessely believed that stress was involved in Gulf War Illness, with an long-term psychiatric paradigm research and public view on it.

Scotsman retracts article criticizing Wessely
In 2003, Dr Margaret Cook, a hospital consultant, wrote an article in the Scotsman newspaper entitled ME sufferers have found an enemy in Wessely – so they need friends, which was quickly retracted.

Negative stereotyping and comments about patients with ME/CFS
Sir Simon Wessely has referred to patients as.

Talks, Interviews, & Newspaper articles

 * 1994, Is cancer all in the mind?
 * 2006, Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue: The true story of Gulf War Syndrome
 * 2010, Chronic fatigue syndrome
 * 2014, Psychiatrists and the pharma industry are to blame for the current ‘epidemic’ of mental disorders

Quotes

 * Simon Wessely in his own words - compiled by M.E. Action UK
 * Wessely's Way: Rhetoric or reason? - Margaret Williams and Malcolm Hooper
 * Wessely's Words Revisited
 * 1993, "The worst thing to do is tell them to rest", "exercise is good for these patients", "Benefits can often make patients worse".

Online presence

 * PubMed - Simon Wessely
 * Twitter
 * Website

Directorships and Shareholdings
Simon Charles Wessely is a director and has held a total of 5 appointments. He is a director of the Science Media Centre  (Company number 07560997).

Learn more

 * Wikipedia - Simon Wessely


 * 1993, Letter to Mansel Aylward at the Department of Social Security complaining about neurological classification of ME/CFS
 * 2003, Notes on the involvement of Wessely et al with the Insurance Industry and how they deal with ME/CFS claims
 * 2011, Interview with Professor Simon Wessely - The Times
 * 2011, Dr. Ian Gibson on BBC radio: Prof Simon Wessely has been blocking proper research into ME for years
 * 2012, Letter from Countess Mar to Professor Simon Wessely
 * 2013, Professor Sir Simon Wessely – Right or Wrong?
 * 2013, Simon Wessely's Big Shift? CBT Icon Calls For Big Rituximab Trial
 * 2015, Chronic fatigue syndrome gets yet another name