Meeus, Mira, Nijs, Jo, Vanderheiden, Tanja et al. · Clinical rehabilitation · 2015 · DOI
This review looked at whether relaxation techniques like guided imagery and muscle relaxation help people with ME/CFS and fibromyalgia. Researchers examined 13 high-quality studies involving 650 fibromyalgia patients and 88 ME/CFS patients. They found that guided imagery may help with pain relief in the short term, but there wasn't enough evidence to say relaxation techniques work better than other treatment approaches, especially for ME/CFS-related fatigue.
This systematic review addresses an important gap by synthesizing evidence on relaxation therapies for ME/CFS and fibromyalgia—conditions where patients often seek non-pharmacological symptom management. The findings help clarify which relaxation approaches have actual evidence support, preventing patients from investing time in unproven techniques and guiding researchers toward more effective intervention combinations.
This review does not prove that relaxation therapy is ineffective overall—only that evidence is insufficient for most techniques beyond guided imagery's acute pain effects. It does not establish whether relaxation might benefit as part of multimodal treatment rather than standalone therapy. The very small ME/CFS sample (88 patients across 3 studies) means conclusions about ME/CFS specifically have limited reliability.
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
Meeus, Mira, Nijs, Jo, Vanderheiden, Tanja, Baert, Isabel, Descheemaeker, Filip, & Struyf, Filip (2015). The effect of relaxation therapy on autonomic functioning, symptoms and daily functioning, in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia: a systematic review.. Clinical rehabilitation. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269215514542635
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-meeus-2015-effect-relaxation,
author = {Meeus, Mira and Nijs, Jo and Vanderheiden, Tanja and Baert, Isabel and Descheemaeker, Filip and Struyf, Filip},
title = {The effect of relaxation therapy on autonomic functioning, symptoms and daily functioning, in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia: a systematic review.},
journal = {Clinical rehabilitation},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1177/0269215514542635},
note = {PubMed: 25200878},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/meeus-2015-effect-relaxation},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/meeus-2015-effect-relaxation
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