E2 ModerateModerate confidencePEM not requiredCross-SectionalPeer-reviewedReviewed
Standard · 3 min
Dimensional Personality Assessment among a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) sample with Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5).
Calvo, Natalia, Pueyo, Natalia, Gutiérrez, Fernando et al. · Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2018
Quick Summary
This study looked at whether people with ME/CFS are more likely to have certain personality traits or patterns. Researchers gave 84 ME/CFS patients a personality assessment test and found that 64% met criteria for a personality disorder. The traits most strongly associated with personality disorders in this group were worry about relationships, repetitive thinking, social withdrawal, and perfectionism.
Why It Matters
Understanding personality patterns in ME/CFS may help clinicians provide more targeted psychological support and better distinguish between personality-related distress and disease-specific symptoms. This is one of the first studies using DSM-5 personality assessment tools in CFS patients, providing a framework for future investigations into whether these traits are primary features, secondary responses to illness, or unrelated comorbidities.
Observed Findings
64% (54/84) of CFS patients met diagnostic criteria for a personality disorder
Separation Insecurity, Perseveration, Withdrawal, Depressivity, Rigid Perfectionism, and Unusual Beliefs/Experiences were the most significant distinguishing facets between CFS patients with and without personality disorders
Negative Affectivity and Detachment were the two significant personality domains in CFS patients with personality disorders
In regression analysis, only Detachment and Rigid Perfectionism independently predicted high probability of a personality disorder diagnosis
Inferred Conclusions
Personality disorders are highly prevalent in CFS patient populations (approximately two-thirds of this sample)
The PID-5 may be a useful dimensional tool to differentiate personality disorder status in CFS clinical samples
Detachment and Rigid Perfectionism are the strongest dimensional personality predictors of personality disorder in CFS patients
A more frequent dimensional personality profile characterizes CFS patients compared to general population expectations
Remaining Questions
Does the high prevalence of personality patterns in CFS represent primary personality disorders, secondary psychological responses to chronic illness burden, or assessment artifacts related to symptom overlap?
What This Study Does Not Prove
This study does not establish whether personality patterns cause ME/CFS, result from living with ME/CFS, or are entirely independent comorbidities. The cross-sectional design cannot establish temporal relationships. Additionally, the PID-5 was not originally validated for CFS populations, so findings may not directly apply or may reflect assessment limitations rather than true personality differences.
Tags
Symptom:Fatigue
Method Flag:Weak Case DefinitionNo ControlsSmall Sample
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 →
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