Benor, Daniel, Rossiter-Thornton, John, Toussaint, Loren · Journal of evidence-based complementary & alternative medicine · 2017 · DOI
This small pilot study tested whether a self-help technique called WHEE (combining eye movements with tapping) could help people with chronic pain, depression, and anxiety. Twenty-four patients with chronic pain conditions (including 17 with ME/CFS or fibromyalgia) were split into two groups: one received WHEE treatment for 6 weeks while the other waited. The WHEE group showed improvements in anxiety and depression compared to those who waited, and when the waiting group later tried WHEE, they also experienced less pain and depression.
Many ME/CFS patients experience significant comorbid depression, anxiety, and pain that limit quality of life and treatment options. This study suggests WHEE, a low-cost self-administered technique, may offer symptom relief for these overlapping conditions in ME/CFS populations, warranting larger controlled trials. The incidental finding of high childhood/adulthood trauma rates in chronic pain patients also highlights potential psychological dimensions relevant to ME/CFS management.
This small pilot study does not establish that WHEE is an effective primary treatment for ME/CFS or that it works better than other therapeutic approaches. The convenience sample and lack of standardized ME/CFS case definitions limit generalizability. The correlation between trauma history and chronic pain observed does not prove trauma causes ME/CFS, nor does it establish that addressing trauma will cure the condition.
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
Benor, Daniel, Rossiter-Thornton, John, & Toussaint, Loren (2017). A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Wholistic Hybrid Derived From Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and Emotional Freedom Technique (WHEE) for Self-Treatment of Pain, Depression, and Anxiety in Chronic Pain Patients.. Journal of evidence-based complementary & alternative medicine. https://doi.org/10.1177/2156587216659400
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-benor-2017-randomized-controlled,
author = {Benor, Daniel and Rossiter-Thornton, John and Toussaint, Loren},
title = {A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Wholistic Hybrid Derived From Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and Emotional Freedom Technique (WHEE) for Self-Treatment of Pain, Depression, and Anxiety in Chronic Pain Patients.},
journal = {Journal of evidence-based complementary & alternative medicine},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1177/2156587216659400},
note = {PubMed: 27432773},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/benor-2017-randomized-controlled},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/benor-2017-randomized-controlled
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