Jason, L A, Taylor, R R, Stepanek, Z et al. · Journal of health psychology · 2001 · DOI
This study found that what doctors and students call ME/CFS affects how they think about the condition. When it was called "myalgic encephalopathy," people were more likely to believe it had a physical cause in the body. The name used also influenced whether healthcare workers thought patients were truly ill or just depressed. This suggests that even the language we use to describe ME/CFS can shape people's beliefs about how serious it is and how it should be treated.
This research demonstrates that the terminology used to describe ME/CFS significantly influences healthcare providers' understanding and beliefs about the condition, which directly impacts patient care, support, and treatment recommendations. For patients advocating for recognition, these findings show that using biomedically-grounded language like myalgic encephalopathy may help shift provider perception toward accepting the condition as a physical illness rather than psychiatric. Understanding how language shapes provider attitudes is crucial for improving patient care and reducing stigma.
This study does not prove that changing the name of ME/CFS will automatically change clinical practice or improve patient outcomes in real-world settings. The study used hypothetical vignettes with undergraduate and medical trainees rather than established clinicians making actual treatment decisions, so results may not reflect real clinical behavior. Correlation between naming and attitudes does not establish whether the name itself causes attitude changes or if other factors associated with different terminologies drive the observed differences.
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
Jason, L A, Taylor, R R, Stepanek, Z, & Plioplys, S (2001). Attitudes regarding chronic fatigue syndrome: the importance of a name.. Journal of health psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/135910530100600105
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-jason-2001-attitudes-regarding,
author = {Jason, L A and Taylor, R R and Stepanek, Z and Plioplys, S},
title = {Attitudes regarding chronic fatigue syndrome: the importance of a name.},
journal = {Journal of health psychology},
year = {2001},
doi = {10.1177/135910530100600105},
note = {PubMed: 22049238},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/jason-2001-attitudes-regarding},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/jason-2001-attitudes-regarding
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