Nater, Urs M, Jones, James F, Lin, Jin-Mann S et al. · Psychotherapy and psychosomatics · 2010 · DOI
This study looked at whether certain personality traits are more common in people with ME/CFS. Researchers compared 113 people with ME/CFS to people without it and found that those with ME/CFS had higher rates of certain personality patterns (like being more anxious or withdrawn) and personality disorders. However, these personality differences were not unique to ME/CFS—they also appeared in other chronically ill groups.
Understanding whether personality factors contribute to ME/CFS development or persistence could inform psychological interventions and help clinicians recognize behavioral patterns that might interfere with treatment. The finding that personality disorders are elevated in ME/CFS but not uniquely so raises important questions about whether these traits are a cause, consequence, or correlate of chronic illness.
This cross-sectional design cannot establish causation—it cannot determine whether certain personality traits increase ME/CFS risk, whether having ME/CFS shapes personality over time, or whether both stem from a common underlying biological process. The study also does not prove that personality features are responsible for ME/CFS maintenance, only that they correlate with it. The elevated personality disorder rates in the ISF group suggest these patterns may reflect chronic unwellness generally rather than ME/CFS specifically.
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
Nater, Urs M, Jones, James F, Lin, Jin-Mann S, Maloney, Elizabeth, Reeves, William C, & Heim, Christine (2010). Personality features and personality disorders in chronic fatigue syndrome: a population-based study.. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics. https://doi.org/10.1159/000319312
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-nater-2010-personality-features,
author = {Nater, Urs M and Jones, James F and Lin, Jin-Mann S and Maloney, Elizabeth and Reeves, William C and Heim, Christine},
title = {Personality features and personality disorders in chronic fatigue syndrome: a population-based study.},
journal = {Psychotherapy and psychosomatics},
year = {2010},
doi = {10.1159/000319312},
note = {PubMed: 20664306},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/nater-2010-personality-features},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/nater-2010-personality-features
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