Ax, S, Gregg, V H, Jones, D · Clinical psychology review · 2001 · DOI
This study reviews what we know about how people with ME/CFS cope with their illness and how their beliefs about the condition affect their health. The researchers found that how patients think about and manage their illness may play an important role in their physical and mental well-being. The study suggests that understanding these coping strategies could help doctors develop better treatments for ME/CFS.
Understanding how coping strategies and illness beliefs affect ME/CFS outcomes is crucial for patients seeking practical ways to manage their condition and for clinicians developing psychological interventions. This review highlights that ME/CFS is not simply a biomedical problem but involves complex interactions between physical illness and how patients psychologically respond to it. By identifying coping as a mediating factor, this work opens pathways for developing therapeutic approaches tailored to patient needs.
This review does not prove that coping or illness cognitions cause ME/CFS or that psychological factors are the primary driver of the disease. The study does not establish the direction of causality—it remains unclear whether certain coping strategies improve outcomes or whether better health allows for more effective coping. This analysis is based on existing literature and does not provide new empirical data from patients.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Ax, S, Gregg, V H, & Jones, D (2001). Coping and illness cognitions: chronic fatigue syndrome.. Clinical psychology review. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0272-7358(99)00031-8
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-ax-2001-coping-illness,
author = {Ax, S and Gregg, V H and Jones, D},
title = {Coping and illness cognitions: chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Clinical psychology review},
year = {2001},
doi = {10.1016/s0272-7358(99)00031-8},
note = {PubMed: 11293364},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/ax-2001-coping-illness},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/ax-2001-coping-illness
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