Travers, Michele Kerry, Lawler, Jocalyn · Social science & medicine (1982) · 2008 · DOI
This study explored how people with ME/CFS experience their illness and how they cope with it, based on interviews with 19 Australian adults (including 3 who recovered). Researchers found that people with ME/CFS often feel their sense of self is damaged by the illness, and they use two main strategies to manage this: protecting themselves (the Guardian Response) and rebuilding their lives with new meaning (the Reconstructing Response). The study shows that living with ME/CFS involves an ongoing struggle as people balance these coping strategies depending on how severe their symptoms are at any given time.
This study validates the psychological and existential burden of ME/CFS beyond physical symptoms, addressing the frequently overlooked impact on identity and sense of self. Understanding these coping mechanisms can help healthcare providers offer more compassionate, holistic care and help patients recognize their adaptive strategies as meaningful responses rather than failures. The research counters the 'contested' nature of CFS by centering patient experience as legitimate medical knowledge.
This qualitative study does not establish the biological mechanisms of ME/CFS, measure the prevalence of these psychological experiences population-wide, or prove that these coping strategies are universally effective. The findings reflect subjective patient narratives and cannot determine whether self-violation is a direct consequence of illness pathology or influenced by social stigma and medical skepticism.
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
Travers, Michele Kerry & Lawler, Jocalyn (2008). Self within a climate of contention: Experiences of chronic fatigue syndrome.. Social science & medicine (1982). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.09.003
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-travers-2008-self-within,
author = {Travers, Michele Kerry and Lawler, Jocalyn},
title = {Self within a climate of contention: Experiences of chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Social science & medicine (1982)},
year = {2008},
doi = {10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.09.003},
note = {PubMed: 17961894},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/travers-2008-self-within},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/travers-2008-self-within
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