McPhee, Graham · Journal of health psychology · 2017 · DOI
This review looked at studies testing whether cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)—a talking treatment—helps people with ME/CFS. Most studies only asked patients if they felt better, but didn't measure whether they could actually do more physical activities. The review found little evidence that CBT improves what patients can actually do or helps them return to work.
This study is important because it identifies a critical gap in how ME/CFS treatments are evaluated. If we only ask patients how they feel without measuring actual physical changes, we may overestimate treatment benefits. More rigorous, objective measurement methods are essential for understanding whether treatments like CBT truly help people with ME/CFS improve their functioning.
This review does not prove that CBT is ineffective—it demonstrates that most CBT trials lack objective measures to properly evaluate it. It also does not explain why subjective and objective measures might differ, nor does it address whether different CBT approaches might show different results with proper measurement.
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
McPhee, Graham (2017). Cognitive behaviour therapy and objective assessments in chronic fatigue syndrome.. Journal of health psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105317707215
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-mcphee-2017-cognitive-behaviour,
author = {McPhee, Graham},
title = {Cognitive behaviour therapy and objective assessments in chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Journal of health psychology},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1177/1359105317707215},
note = {PubMed: 28805529},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/mcphee-2017-cognitive-behaviour},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/mcphee-2017-cognitive-behaviour
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.