Taylor, Anna K, Loades, Maria, Brigden, Amberly Lc et al. · Clinical child psychology and psychiatry · 2017 · DOI
This study talked with nine young people (aged 13-17) who have ME/CFS and depression to understand how these two conditions connect. Most young people felt that ME/CFS caused their depression because the illness stopped them doing activities they loved and changed their daily lives. Many also noticed that feeling sad made their ME/CFS symptoms worse, creating a difficult cycle. The researchers found that different combinations of treatments—like talking therapy, medicine, and careful activity planning—worked best for different people.
Understanding how depression develops in young people with ME/CFS is crucial because one-third experience both conditions, yet little research addresses their relationship or optimal treatment. This study emphasizes that depression may be a psychological response to living with ME/CFS rather than a primary psychiatric disorder, which has important implications for how clinicians approach treatment and prevention. The young people's voices reveal the profound impact of functional loss, highlighting the need for holistic care strategies tailored to individual circumstances.
This qualitative study does not establish causality or determine whether depression is truly secondary to ME/CFS versus reflecting shared biological mechanisms or independent co-occurrence. The small sample (n=9) and predominantly female, young adolescent population limit generalizability to broader ME/CFS populations. The study relies on participants' perceptions of causality rather than objective temporal or mechanistic evidence, so it cannot definitively prove that CFS/ME causes depression.
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
Taylor, Anna K, Loades, Maria, Brigden, Amberly Lc, Collin, Simon M, & Crawley, Esther (2017). 'It's personal to me': A qualitative study of depression in young people with CFS/ME.. Clinical child psychology and psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104516672507
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-taylor-2017-personal-qualitative,
author = {Taylor, Anna K and Loades, Maria and Brigden, Amberly Lc and Collin, Simon M and Crawley, Esther},
title = {'It's personal to me': A qualitative study of depression in young people with CFS/ME.},
journal = {Clinical child psychology and psychiatry},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1177/1359104516672507},
note = {PubMed: 27742756},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/taylor-2017-personal-qualitative},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/taylor-2017-personal-qualitative
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