Friedberg, Fred, Napoli, Anthony, Coronel, Janna et al. · Psychosomatic medicine · 2013 · DOI
This study tested whether a brief two-session fatigue self-management program could help people with chronic unexplained fatigue or ME/CFS manage their symptoms better. People who received the self-management training reported greater improvements in how fatigue affected their daily life compared to those who received attention-focused support or usual care. About half of people in the self-management group showed clinically meaningful improvement, compared to only about 1 in 6 people in the other groups.
This study provides evidence that a brief, feasible intervention delivered in primary care can produce clinically meaningful improvements in fatigue-related disability for ME/CFS and unexplained chronic fatigue patients. The finding that self-management training outperforms attention control and usual care suggests that targeted skill-building may be more beneficial than generic support, offering patients an accessible option within routine healthcare settings.
This study does not prove that self-management addresses the underlying biological cause of ME/CFS or UCF. The study also does not establish long-term efficacy beyond 12 months, nor does it clarify whether improvements are durable or require ongoing intervention. High attrition rates limit confidence in the 12-month findings.
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
Friedberg, Fred, Napoli, Anthony, Coronel, Janna, Adamowicz, Jenna, Seva, Viktoria, Caikauskaite, Indre, et al. (2013). Chronic fatigue self-management in primary care: a randomized trial.. Psychosomatic medicine. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0b013e31829dbed4
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-friedberg-2013-chronic-fatigue,
author = {Friedberg, Fred and Napoli, Anthony and Coronel, Janna and Adamowicz, Jenna and Seva, Viktoria and Caikauskaite, Indre and Ngan, Man Chi and Chang, Jeremy and Meng, Hongdao},
title = {Chronic fatigue self-management in primary care: a randomized trial.},
journal = {Psychosomatic medicine},
year = {2013},
doi = {10.1097/PSY.0b013e31829dbed4},
note = {PubMed: 23922399},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/friedberg-2013-chronic-fatigue},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/friedberg-2013-chronic-fatigue
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