Vanheule, Stijn, Vandenbergen, Jan, Verhaeghe, Paul et al. · Psychology and psychotherapy · 2010 · DOI
This study looked at whether people with ME/CFS have difficulty recognizing and talking about their emotions (a condition called alexithymia), and whether this connects to how they interact with others. Researchers compared 52 ME/CFS patients with two other groups: 52 people with heart or autoimmune diseases, and 51 people with minor health problems. They found that ME/CFS patients and those with chronic diseases struggled more with identifying emotions and tended to have more distant or self-centered relationships compared to those with minor illnesses.
This research suggests that emotional awareness and relationship difficulties in ME/CFS may be interconnected manifestations of impaired emotion regulation rather than separate symptoms. Understanding this link could shift clinical approaches from viewing these as isolated problems to addressing them together, potentially improving both emotional and social wellbeing in ME/CFS patients.
This study cannot establish whether emotion-recognition difficulties cause interpersonal problems, or vice versa—it only shows they occur together. The cross-sectional design prevents determining whether these patterns precede or result from ME/CFS itself, or whether they are primary features of the illness or secondary to chronic illness burden. The findings do not prove that mentalization-based therapy will be effective for ME/CFS patients, only that it is theoretically recommended.
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
Vanheule, Stijn, Vandenbergen, Jan, Verhaeghe, Paul, & Desmet, Mattias (2010). Interpersonal problems in alexithymia: A study in three primary care groups.. Psychology and psychotherapy. https://doi.org/10.1348/147608309X481829
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-vanheule-2010-interpersonal-problems,
author = {Vanheule, Stijn and Vandenbergen, Jan and Verhaeghe, Paul and Desmet, Mattias},
title = {Interpersonal problems in alexithymia: A study in three primary care groups.},
journal = {Psychology and psychotherapy},
year = {2010},
doi = {10.1348/147608309X481829},
note = {PubMed: 25268483},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/vanheule-2010-interpersonal-problems},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/vanheule-2010-interpersonal-problems
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