Kapfhammer, H P · Der Nervenarzt · 2012 · DOI
This review looked at how psychiatric medications (mainly antidepressants) might help people with physical symptoms that doctors cannot fully explain medically. The researchers found that antidepressants can reduce pain and other symptoms in conditions like fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome, but they found no clear proven medication strategy for chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) yet.
ME/CFS patients often struggle to find effective treatments, and understanding the evidence base for medications used in similar medically unexplained conditions is relevant. This review's finding that ME/CFS lacks a well-established pharmacological approach underscores the need for more targeted research in this population and may help prevent patients from receiving unproven treatments.
This review does not establish that ME/CFS is primarily a psychiatric disorder or that psychiatric medications should be first-line treatment. The absence of convincing evidence for ME/CFS does not mean medications are ineffective—only that rigorous placebo-controlled trials are lacking. The review focuses on somatoform disorders, which have different diagnostic criteria and disease mechanisms than 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
Kapfhammer, H P (2012). [Psychopharmacological treatment in patients with somatoform disorders and functional body syndromes].. Der Nervenarzt. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00115-011-3446-9
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-kapfhammer-2012-psychopharmacological-treatment,
author = {Kapfhammer, H P},
title = {[Psychopharmacological treatment in patients with somatoform disorders and functional body syndromes].},
journal = {Der Nervenarzt},
year = {2012},
doi = {10.1007/s00115-011-3446-9},
note = {PubMed: 22895795},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kapfhammer-2012-psychopharmacological-treatment},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kapfhammer-2012-psychopharmacological-treatment
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