Serafimova, Teona, Loades, Maria, Gaunt, Daisy et al. · Clinical child psychology and psychiatry · 2021 · DOI
This study looked at how well parents and teenagers with ME/CFS agreed when reporting on anxiety and depression symptoms. Researchers compared what 93 teenagers said about their mental health with what their parents said, using a standard questionnaire. Both teenagers and parents were reasonably accurate at spotting mental health problems, though teenagers more often reported reaching diagnostic thresholds. The findings suggest that doctors should listen to both the young person and their parent, since severe fatigue might make it harder for teenagers to fully report their symptoms on their own.
Mental health problems affect approximately one in three adolescents with ME/CFS, yet diagnosis can be challenging because severe fatigue may interfere with self-reporting. This study clarifies that clinicians need input from both young people and parents to accurately assess anxiety and depression, helping improve psychological care in this population. The findings validate using multi-informant approaches when evaluating mental health in ME/CFS rather than relying solely on either source.
This study does not establish whether anxiety or depression cause or result from ME/CFS, nor does it determine optimal treatment approaches for mental health in this population. The study also does not identify which specific symptoms parents and children most disagree about, limiting practical guidance on which symptoms warrant particular scrutiny from clinicians.
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 →
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