Surawy, C, Hackmann, A, Hawton, K et al. · Behaviour research and therapy · 1995 · DOI
This study looked at what ME/CFS patients were thinking and believing about their symptoms, and how these thoughts might play a role in the condition. Researchers listened to patients' own descriptions of their fatigue and the thoughts that came with it, then tested whether a talking therapy called cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) could help. The study suggests that the way patients think about their symptoms might be part of what keeps them sick.
This early work was influential in proposing psychological mechanisms in ME/CFS, suggesting that treatment targeting thought patterns might help patients. Understanding the cognitive aspects of ME/CFS has implications for developing supportive therapies and validating patient experiences.
This study does not prove that abnormal thoughts cause ME/CFS or that cognitive therapy alone can cure the condition. It is observational rather than experimental, so it cannot establish whether maladaptive cognitions are a cause or a consequence of prolonged fatigue. The study also does not address whether biological or neurological factors underlie both the fatigue and associated thought patterns.
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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