Söderberg, S, Evengård, B · Psychotherapy and psychosomatics · 2001 · DOI
This study looked at whether talking with other ME/CFS patients in a group setting could help with symptoms and quality of life. Fourteen women with ME/CFS attended ten 1.5-hour weekly therapy sessions where they shared experiences and learned coping strategies. Most participants felt better emotionally and found it helpful to know others understood what they were going through.
This study addresses the psychological and social dimensions of ME/CFS management, showing that structured group interventions may improve psychological well-being and coping in patients. It validates peer support as a potentially valuable therapeutic mechanism and suggests that psychological interventions merit further investigation as complementary approaches in ME/CFS care.
This study does not establish that group therapy treats underlying ME/CFS pathology or reduces core fatigue symptoms; improvements were primarily in coping and psychological well-being. The small sample size (14 participants, all women) limits generalizability. The study design cannot isolate whether benefits arose from the therapy content, peer support alone, or other factors like attention and expectation.
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
Söderberg, S & Evengård, B (2001). Short-term group therapy for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics. https://doi.org/10.1159/000056234
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-sderberg-2001-short-term,
author = {Söderberg, S and Evengård, B},
title = {Short-term group therapy for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Psychotherapy and psychosomatics},
year = {2001},
doi = {10.1159/000056234},
note = {PubMed: 11244392},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/sderberg-2001-short-term},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/sderberg-2001-short-term
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.