Van Oudenhove, Lukas, Debyser, Soetkin, Vergaelen, Elfi et al. · Journal of psychosomatic research · 2024 · DOI
This study followed 297 people with ME/CFS who received cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to see how their fatigue improved over time. Researchers found that people responded very differently to treatment: some improved significantly, some improved a little, and some didn't improve at all. People who started treatment with higher anxiety, depression, stress, and physical symptoms—and lower mood—were less likely to benefit from CBT.
This research helps clinicians and patients understand why CBT works better for some people with ME/CFS than others, potentially allowing earlier identification of patients who may need alternative or additional treatments. Identifying that anxiety reduction may precede fatigue improvement could inform treatment sequencing strategies.
This study cannot establish whether baseline symptoms directly cause poor treatment response or whether other unmeasured factors influence both symptom severity and treatment response. The cross-lagged models suggest temporal associations but cannot definitively prove causality. The findings are specific to CBT and may not generalize to other treatments for ME/CFS.
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 Oudenhove, Lukas, Debyser, Soetkin, Vergaelen, Elfi, Claes, Stephan, & Van Den Houte, Maaike (2024). Predictors of treatment response trajectories to cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome: A cohort study.. Journal of psychosomatic research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2024.111954
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-van-oudenhove-2024-predictors-treatment,
author = {Van Oudenhove, Lukas and Debyser, Soetkin and Vergaelen, Elfi and Claes, Stephan and Van Den Houte, Maaike},
title = {Predictors of treatment response trajectories to cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome: A cohort study.},
journal = {Journal of psychosomatic research},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.1016/j.jpsychores.2024.111954},
note = {PubMed: 39423465},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-oudenhove-2024-predictors-treatment},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-oudenhove-2024-predictors-treatment
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