Band, Rebecca, Wearden, Alison, Barrowclough, Christine · Clinical psychology : a publication of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association · 2015 · DOI
This review looked at 14 studies examining how the people close to ME/CFS patients respond to their illness and how these responses affect patient outcomes. The researchers found that when loved ones blame patients for causing or worsening their illness, patients experience more emotional distress. Interestingly, both overly caring responses and negative responses from significant others were linked to worse symptoms and disability.
Social relationships significantly influence how ME/CFS patients experience their illness and recover. Understanding how partners' beliefs and behaviors affect patient outcomes could inform new treatment approaches that involve family members, potentially improving both relationship quality and health outcomes.
This systematic review identifies associations between significant other responses and patient outcomes but cannot establish causality—it remains unclear whether negative responses cause worse symptoms or whether severe illness triggers negative responses. The review also does not evaluate interventions targeting significant others, only documents relationships in observational studies.
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
Band, Rebecca, Wearden, Alison, & Barrowclough, Christine (2015). Patient Outcomes in Association With Significant Other Responses to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Systematic Review of the Literature.. Clinical psychology : a publication of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1111/cpsp.12093
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-band-2015-patient-outcomes,
author = {Band, Rebecca and Wearden, Alison and Barrowclough, Christine},
title = {Patient Outcomes in Association With Significant Other Responses to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Systematic Review of the Literature.},
journal = {Clinical psychology : a publication of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1111/cpsp.12093},
note = {PubMed: 26617440},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/band-2015-patient-outcomes},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/band-2015-patient-outcomes
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