Buckley, L, MacHale, S M, Cavanagh, J T et al. · Journal of psychosomatic research · 1999 · DOI
This study looked at personality traits in people with ME/CFS, people with depression, and healthy people. Researchers found that ME/CFS patients tended to be less outgoing and more anxious/worried compared to healthy people, but less anxious than those with depression. Interestingly, ME/CFS patients reported they felt less outgoing and more anxious when they were sick compared to when they were well, suggesting illness itself may change how people experience their personality.
Understanding whether personality changes in ME/CFS are consequences of illness rather than causes helps counter misconceptions that psychological traits cause the condition. This distinction is crucial for appropriate treatment approaches and for validating patient experiences of how the illness affects their sense of self.
This study cannot establish whether personality changes cause ME/CFS or result from it, since it measured traits at only one time point. The cross-sectional design means we cannot determine if low extroversion and high neuroticism preceded illness onset or developed because of chronic illness. It also does not address other potential causes of ME/CFS such as infectious agents or biological factors.
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
Buckley, L, MacHale, S M, Cavanagh, J T, Sharpe, M, Deary, I J, & Lawrie, S M (1999). Personality dimensions in chronic fatigue syndrome and depression.. Journal of psychosomatic research. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-3999(98)00120-2
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-buckley-1999-personality-dimensions,
author = {Buckley, L and MacHale, S M and Cavanagh, J T and Sharpe, M and Deary, I J and Lawrie, S M},
title = {Personality dimensions in chronic fatigue syndrome and depression.},
journal = {Journal of psychosomatic research},
year = {1999},
doi = {10.1016/s0022-3999(98)00120-2},
note = {PubMed: 10340240},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/buckley-1999-personality-dimensions},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/buckley-1999-personality-dimensions
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