Van Houdenhove, Boudewijn, Neerinckx, Eddy, Onghena, Patrick et al. · Psychotherapy and psychosomatics · 2002 · DOI
This study looked at the everyday frustrations and worries that ME/CFS and fibromyalgia patients experience compared to people with other chronic illnesses like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Researchers found that ME/CFS and fibromyalgia patients reported more frequent daily hassles and felt more emotionally distressed by them. The main worries for ME/CFS and fibromyalgia patients centered on feeling bad about themselves, feeling uncertain, and not being recognized or understood by others.
This study highlights that ME/CFS and fibromyalgia patients experience a distinct psychosocial burden centered on loss of self-identity and social disconnection, which differs qualitatively from other chronic diseases. Understanding these core psychological themes is essential for developing patient-centered treatment approaches that address not just physical symptoms but the profound impact on patients' sense of self and social functioning.
This study does not establish whether daily hassles cause psychological distress in ME/CFS patients or vice versa—it only shows they occur together. The cross-sectional design means we cannot determine whether the emotional preoccupation with these hassles existed before illness onset or developed because of it. The study also does not prove that the psychosocial burden is unique to ME/CFS pathophysiology; it may reflect patients' rational responses to being recently diagnosed with disabling conditions.
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 Houdenhove, Boudewijn, Neerinckx, Eddy, Onghena, Patrick, Vingerhoets, Ad, Lysens, Roeland, & Vertommen, Hans (2002). Daily hassles reported by chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia patients in tertiary care: a controlled quantitative and qualitative study.. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics. https://doi.org/10.1159/000063646
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-van-houdenhove-2002-daily-hassles,
author = {Van Houdenhove, Boudewijn and Neerinckx, Eddy and Onghena, Patrick and Vingerhoets, Ad and Lysens, Roeland and Vertommen, Hans},
title = {Daily hassles reported by chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia patients in tertiary care: a controlled quantitative and qualitative study.},
journal = {Psychotherapy and psychosomatics},
year = {2002},
doi = {10.1159/000063646},
note = {PubMed: 12097786},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-houdenhove-2002-daily-hassles},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-houdenhove-2002-daily-hassles
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