Driver, Christine · The Journal of analytical psychology · 2005 · DOI
This study examines how the mind and body become deeply connected in people with ME/CFS, making it hard to regulate both emotions and physical symptoms. Through detailed analysis of one patient's therapy, the researcher explores how early experiences with parents may affect how the body and mind communicate and function together in ME/CFS.
This work contributes to understanding ME/CFS beyond purely biological or purely psychological models by exploring how early relational experiences may shape the mind-body integration difficulties observed in patients. For patients struggling with the paradox of simultaneous overactivity and underactivity of their symptoms, this perspective offers a framework for understanding these patterns in psychotherapy.
This case study does not prove that maternal attachment difficulties cause ME/CFS, nor does it establish that psychoanalytic therapy cures the condition. It is a single patient's detailed account and cannot be generalized to all ME/CFS patients. The study does not quantify the prevalence of these psychological patterns in ME/CFS populations.
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
Driver, Christine (2005). An under-active or over-active internal world? An exploration of parallel dynamics within psyche and soma, and the difficulty of internal regulation, in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.. The Journal of analytical psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0021-8774.2005.00520.x
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-driver-2005-under-active,
author = {Driver, Christine},
title = {An under-active or over-active internal world? An exploration of parallel dynamics within psyche and soma, and the difficulty of internal regulation, in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.},
journal = {The Journal of analytical psychology},
year = {2005},
doi = {10.1111/j.0021-8774.2005.00520.x},
note = {PubMed: 15817039},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/driver-2005-under-active},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/driver-2005-under-active
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.