Kempke, S, Luyten, P, Claes, S et al. · Psychological medicine · 2013 · DOI
This study looked at whether a personality trait called self-critical perfectionism—the tendency to be harshly self-critical and set unrealistic standards—might be linked to daily fatigue and pain in ME/CFS patients. Over 14 days, 90 patients recorded their fatigue and pain levels each day. The researchers found that patients who scored higher on self-critical perfectionism did experience more fatigue and pain during the study period, even after accounting for mood differences.
This is the first study to show that self-critical perfectionism prospectively predicts both fatigue and pain symptoms in ME/CFS patients in real-world daily life, suggesting that psychological interventions targeting perfectionist traits could be therapeutically relevant. Understanding these psychological-symptom relationships may help clinicians identify patients who might benefit from tailored behavioral or psychological approaches alongside other treatments.
This study demonstrates association, not causation—it does not prove that self-critical perfectionism causes fatigue and pain in ME/CFS. The 14-day study window is relatively short and may not capture longer-term symptom patterns or disease course. The study also does not establish whether addressing perfectionism would reduce symptoms, only that the trait is associated with higher symptom levels.
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
Kempke, S, Luyten, P, Claes, S, Goossens, L, Bekaert, P, Van Wambeke, P, et al. (2013). Self-critical perfectionism and its relationship to fatigue and pain in the daily flow of life in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.. Psychological medicine. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291712001936
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-kempke-2013-self-critical,
author = {Kempke, S and Luyten, P and Claes, S and Goossens, L and Bekaert, P and Van Wambeke, P and Van Houdenhove, B},
title = {Self-critical perfectionism and its relationship to fatigue and pain in the daily flow of life in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Psychological medicine},
year = {2013},
doi = {10.1017/S0033291712001936},
note = {PubMed: 22932430},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kempke-2013-self-critical},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kempke-2013-self-critical
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