Garralda, M Elena · European child & adolescent psychiatry · 1992 · DOI
This study describes two children with severe ME/CFS and explores how psychological factors might contribute to maintaining the illness. The researchers found that viral infections, depression, personality traits, and family relationships may all play a role in how the condition develops and persists in children. Both children improved with appropriate treatment, suggesting that addressing these various factors together can help with recovery.
Understanding the psychological and contextual factors that maintain severe ME/CFS in children is critical for developing effective treatment strategies. This study bridges psychiatric and somatic perspectives, suggesting that comprehensive assessment addressing emotional, familial, and infectious factors may improve outcomes in pediatric ME/CFS patients.
This study does not prove that ME/CFS is primarily psychological in origin or that psychological factors cause the condition. The case-based design cannot establish causal relationships or determine which factors are necessary versus coincidental in illness maintenance. Findings from two cases cannot be generalized to all children with ME/CFS.
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
Garralda, M Elena (1992). Severe chronic fatigue syndrome in chidhood: A discussion of psychopathological mechanisms.. European child & adolescent psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02091794
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-garralda-1992-severe-chronic,
author = {Garralda, M Elena},
title = {Severe chronic fatigue syndrome in chidhood: A discussion of psychopathological mechanisms.},
journal = {European child & adolescent psychiatry},
year = {1992},
doi = {10.1007/BF02091794},
note = {PubMed: 29871394},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/garralda-1992-severe-chronic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/garralda-1992-severe-chronic
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.