Boone, Kyle Brauer · The Clinical neuropsychologist · 2009 · DOI
Some people with ME/CFS report serious cognitive problems in their daily life, but when given standard memory and thinking tests, their scores are completely normal. This study presents one case and suggests that some patients may worry excessively about cognitive problems that aren't actually measurable on formal tests—a condition the author calls 'neurocognitive hypochondriasis.' The study notes this pattern may occur in ME/CFS and several other conditions.
This study addresses a clinically important observation in ME/CFS: the frequent mismatch between patients' subjective experience of cognitive problems ('brain fog') and objective test results. Understanding whether cognitive complaints reflect true neuropsychological impairment, anxiety about cognition, or measurement limitations in standard testing is crucial for proper diagnosis and treatment planning in ME/CFS.
This case study does not prove that ME/CFS patients' cognitive complaints are primarily psychological or that their subjective experiences are invalid. It does not establish that standard neuropsychological tests are adequate for detecting ME/CFS-related cognitive dysfunction, nor does it clarify whether subjective complaints and objective deficits are truly unrelated or whether the testing methods lack sensitivity to real impairments.
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
Boone, Kyle Brauer (2009). Fixed belief in cognitive dysfunction despite normal neuropsychological scores: neurocognitive hypochondriasis?. The Clinical neuropsychologist. https://doi.org/10.1080/13854040802441135
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-boone-2009-fixed-belief,
author = {Boone, Kyle Brauer},
title = {Fixed belief in cognitive dysfunction despite normal neuropsychological scores: neurocognitive hypochondriasis?},
journal = {The Clinical neuropsychologist},
year = {2009},
doi = {10.1080/13854040802441135},
note = {PubMed: 18923966},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/boone-2009-fixed-belief},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/boone-2009-fixed-belief
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.