Dress for ME Charity Challenge

The #DecodeME study is terrific - a milestone in biomedical science. But headlines like “ME is real” are not good journalism. ME was already scientifically established by the mid-1990s. And clinical evidence has supported its reality since the 1950s. So why do we get these headlines? Because in UK health journalism, “getting the facts” often means repeating what a GP mate told you over lunch, rather than reading the research and checking the facts. These headlines aren’t just lazy. They echo the distortions that stalled ME research in the first place. Instead, journalists need to dig into the history of ME denial. A history of inappropriate psychologisation of ME to service not patients but psychiatry - a profession in existential crisis. You wouldn’t write “human-influenced climate change is real” in 2025. Don’t do it with ME. #pwME