McLoughlin, Caoimhe, Wang, Jing-Yi, Do, Florence et al. · Journal of medical Internet research · 2025 · DOI
Researchers studied how people talk about Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) on social media platform X (Twitter). They found that most influential voices discussing FND actually dismiss or disagree with the condition, while people with ME/CFS and long COVID have more visibility in these conversations. This matters because online information shapes what patients and the public believe about these conditions.
This study reveals how online narratives about neurological conditions are shaped by non-professional voices and potentially misinformation, which directly impacts ME/CFS patients who experience similar diagnostic and acceptance challenges. Understanding these dynamics helps explain why patients struggle with recognition and support. The findings suggest that stigmatized conditions need strategic engagement with online communities to counter misconceptions.
This study does not prove that social media discourse directly causes patient harm or delays diagnosis, only that negative narratives predominate online. It cannot establish causation between influential users' views and public understanding of FND. The findings are specific to X/Twitter and may not reflect attitudes on other platforms or in offline contexts.
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
McLoughlin, Caoimhe, Wang, Jing-Yi, Do, Florence, Kanbayashi, Takamichi, Couturier, Anna, Carson, Alan, et al. (2025). An Exploration of How Functional Neurological Disorder Is Discussed on X (Twitter): Mixed Methods Study Using Social Network and Content Analysis.. Journal of medical Internet research. https://doi.org/10.2196/73439
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-mcloughlin-2025-exploration-how,
author = {McLoughlin, Caoimhe and Wang, Jing-Yi and Do, Florence and Kanbayashi, Takamichi and Couturier, Anna and Carson, Alan and Stone, Jon},
title = {An Exploration of How Functional Neurological Disorder Is Discussed on X (Twitter): Mixed Methods Study Using Social Network and Content Analysis.},
journal = {Journal of medical Internet research},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.2196/73439},
note = {PubMed: 41106819},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/mcloughlin-2025-exploration-how},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/mcloughlin-2025-exploration-how
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