van de Putte, Elise M, Engelbert, Raoul H H, Kuis, Wietse et al. · Journal of psychosomatic research · 2007 · DOI
This study looked at whether adolescents with ME/CFS have difficulty identifying and describing their emotions (a trait called alexithymia) more often than healthy teenagers. Researchers found that while some teens with ME/CFS did have this trait, it wasn't significantly different from healthy controls, and it didn't predict who would recover. The study suggests that difficulty with emotions is not a unique feature of ME/CFS in young people.
This work addresses a longstanding hypothesis that psychological factors like emotional processing difficulties drive ME/CFS symptoms. By finding that alexithymia is neither uniquely elevated in CFS nor predictive of recovery, the study suggests that treating emotional processing alone is unlikely to resolve ME/CFS, supporting a biological rather than purely psychological model of the illness.
This study does not prove that emotional processing difficulties play no role in ME/CFS—only that they are not a distinguishing feature when depression and anxiety are accounted for. The cross-sectional design cannot establish causation or rule out that emotional difficulties arise as a consequence of chronic illness rather than causing it. The 1.5-year follow-up was relatively short and involved only a subset of participants, limiting conclusions about long-term prognosis.
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 de Putte, Elise M, Engelbert, Raoul H H, Kuis, Wietse, Kimpen, Jan L L, & Uiterwaal, Cuno S P M (2007). Alexithymia in adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome.. Journal of psychosomatic research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2007.07.009
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-van-de-putte-2007-alexithymia-adolescents,
author = {van de Putte, Elise M and Engelbert, Raoul H H and Kuis, Wietse and Kimpen, Jan L L and Uiterwaal, Cuno S P M},
title = {Alexithymia in adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Journal of psychosomatic research},
year = {2007},
doi = {10.1016/j.jpsychores.2007.07.009},
note = {PubMed: 17905045},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-de-putte-2007-alexithymia-adolescents},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-de-putte-2007-alexithymia-adolescents
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