Hudson, Matt, Johnson, Mark I · Frontiers in psychology · 2021 · DOI
This study proposes that early emotional experiences—both traumatic and everyday—can create lasting patterns in how our bodies respond to stress. When we encounter triggers related to those memories, our body automatically activates a stress response even if the threat is no longer present. The researchers describe a new therapy approach where patients learn to observe their own automatic responses in the moment and gradually 'unlearn' the connection between the memory and the physical stress reaction.
For ME/CFS patients, this study offers a potential mechanism linking past emotional events to present physical symptoms and proposes a psychologically-informed intervention that may complement other treatment approaches. Understanding the role of psychophysiological stress patterns and how they might be modified could open new therapeutic avenues, especially for patients whose symptoms are triggered or worsened by emotional or psychological stress.
This paper does not provide empirical evidence that the proposed therapy actually works; it is a theoretical model without clinical trial data. It does not establish causation between early emotional events and ME/CFS, nor does it determine what proportion of ME/CFS cases are driven primarily by psychophysiological stress versus biological mechanisms. The study does not compare this approach to existing treatments or validate the proposed therapeutic technique in a controlled setting.
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
Hudson, Matt & Johnson, Mark I (2021). Split-Second Unlearning: Developing a Theory of Psychophysiological Dis-ease.. Frontiers in psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.716535
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-hudson-2021-split-second,
author = {Hudson, Matt and Johnson, Mark I},
title = {Split-Second Unlearning: Developing a Theory of Psychophysiological Dis-ease.},
journal = {Frontiers in psychology},
year = {2021},
doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2021.716535},
note = {PubMed: 34912263},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/hudson-2021-split-second},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/hudson-2021-split-second
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.