van Der Schaaf, Marieke E, Schmits, Iris C, Roerink, Megan et al. · BMC psychiatry · 2015 · DOI
This study investigated how cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) works for ME/CFS by examining brain imaging and blood markers before and after treatment. Researchers compared 60 ME/CFS patients receiving CBT with 30 on a waiting list and 30 healthy controls to see how their brains changed and whether hormone and immune markers were involved in recovery.
Understanding how CBT changes brain function and biology in ME/CFS could validate neural mechanisms of the illness and identify which patients are likely to benefit, potentially improving treatment selection and outcomes.
This protocol does not establish that neural or endocrine changes are the primary cause of ME/CFS symptoms, only that they may correlate with symptom improvement. The study cannot prove CBT is curative or universally effective, and the waiting-list design does not control for placebo effects.
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 Der Schaaf, Marieke E, Schmits, Iris C, Roerink, Megan, Geurts, Dirk E M, Toni, Ivan, Roelofs, Karin, et al. (2015). Investigating neural mechanisms of change of cognitive behavioural therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome: a randomized controlled trial.. BMC psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-015-0515-9
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-van-der-schaaf-2015-investigating-neural,
author = {van Der Schaaf, Marieke E and Schmits, Iris C and Roerink, Megan and Geurts, Dirk E M and Toni, Ivan and Roelofs, Karin and De Lange, Floris P and Nater, Urs M and van der Meer, Jos W M and Knoop, Hans},
title = {Investigating neural mechanisms of change of cognitive behavioural therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome: a randomized controlled trial.},
journal = {BMC psychiatry},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1186/s12888-015-0515-9},
note = {PubMed: 26138726},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-der-schaaf-2015-investigating-neural},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-der-schaaf-2015-investigating-neural
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