Shimizu, T · Nihon rinsho. Japanese journal of clinical medicine · 1992
This review examines the differences between ME/CFS and other conditions that can look similar, particularly fibromyalgia and depression. The authors explain that ME/CFS is not a psychological disorder and that sleep disturbances may play a central role in the condition. They suggest that brain imaging technology could help doctors more accurately identify ME/CFS in the future.
This study challenges the outdated notion that ME/CFS is psychogenic or hysteria, which is important for patient validation and appropriate medical care. It suggests a biological basis for ME/CFS and proposes that neuroimaging could eventually provide objective diagnostic markers, potentially improving clinical recognition and treatment approaches.
This review does not provide empirical data demonstrating that fibromyalgia is definitively a 'central fundamental' cause of CFS—this is a speculative interpretation. It also does not establish that brain imaging can currently diagnose CFS in clinical practice, only that it represents a potential future tool. The relationship between sleep disturbance and CFS pathogenesis remains correlational rather than causative.
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
Shimizu, T (1992). [Neuro-psychiatric aspects of chronic fatigue syndrome].. Nihon rinsho. Japanese journal of clinical medicine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1287239/
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-shimizu-1992-neuro-psychiatric,
author = {Shimizu, T},
title = {[Neuro-psychiatric aspects of chronic fatigue syndrome].},
journal = {Nihon rinsho. Japanese journal of clinical medicine},
year = {1992},
note = {PubMed: 1287239},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/shimizu-1992-neuro-psychiatric},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/shimizu-1992-neuro-psychiatric
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