Verspaandonk, J, Coenders, M, Bleijenberg, G et al. · Psychological medicine · 2015 · DOI
This study looked at how a patient's partner and their relationship quality affect how well cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) works for ME/CFS. Researchers found that when partners were overly helpful or protective (called 'solicitous responses'), patients were less likely to improve significantly from their fatigue and disability. The study suggests that addressing how partners respond to the illness during treatment may be important for better outcomes.
Understanding how partner responses influence CBT outcomes could improve treatment design and effectiveness for ME/CFS patients. The findings suggest that therapists should assess and potentially modify maladaptive partner behaviours (overprotection) during treatment, which could meaningfully enhance recovery prospects for patients in relationships.
This study cannot establish causation—it is unclear whether solicitous partner behaviour causes worse outcomes or whether more severely ill patients receive more solicitousness and have worse outcomes regardless. The study does not prove that changing partner behaviour will improve treatment outcomes, only that baseline solicitousness correlates with poorer results. The cross-sectional design of partner assessment prevents determining whether partner responses changed during therapy or remained stable.
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
Verspaandonk, J, Coenders, M, Bleijenberg, G, Lobbestael, J, & Knoop, H (2015). The role of the partner and relationship satisfaction on treatment outcome in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.. Psychological medicine. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291715000288
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-verspaandonk-2015-role-partner,
author = {Verspaandonk, J and Coenders, M and Bleijenberg, G and Lobbestael, J and Knoop, H},
title = {The role of the partner and relationship satisfaction on treatment outcome in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Psychological medicine},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1017/S0033291715000288},
note = {PubMed: 25732090},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/verspaandonk-2015-role-partner},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/verspaandonk-2015-role-partner
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