van Campen, C Linda M C, Visser, Frans C · Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022 · DOI
Some ME/CFS patients experience frequent fainting or near-fainting spells and have been told these are psychological in origin. This study compared brain blood flow in ME/CFS patients with these spells to ME/CFS patients without them during a tilt test (where you're gradually tilted upright). The group with fainting spells showed a much larger drop in blood flow to the brain, suggesting their symptoms have a physical cause rather than a psychiatric one.
This research challenges the misdiagnosis of syncope as psychogenic in ME/CFS patients, providing objective physiological evidence that frequent fainting spells reflect real cardiovascular dysfunction. Recognition of the somatic basis for these symptoms may redirect clinical management toward appropriate physical interventions and away from psychiatric treatments, improving outcomes and reducing patient harm from misattribution.
This study does not establish causality—it demonstrates correlation between reduced cerebral blood flow and syncope in this cohort but cannot prove CBF reduction directly causes the fainting episodes. The findings cannot be generalized to all ME/CFS patients or all cases of suspected psychogenic syncope in other populations. The study does not evaluate the long-term clinical consequences of these hemodynamic findings or test specific treatment interventions.
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
van Campen, C Linda M C & Visser, Frans C (2022). Psychogenic Pseudosyncope: Real or Imaginary? Results from a Case-Control Study in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Patients.. Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania). https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina58010098
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-van-campen-2022-psychogenic-pseudosyncope,
author = {van Campen, C Linda M C and Visser, Frans C},
title = {Psychogenic Pseudosyncope: Real or Imaginary? Results from a Case-Control Study in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Patients.},
journal = {Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania)},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.3390/medicina58010098},
note = {PubMed: 35056406},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-campen-2022-psychogenic-pseudosyncope},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-campen-2022-psychogenic-pseudosyncope
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