Wood, B, Wessely, S · Journal of psychosomatic research · 1999 · DOI
This study compared personality traits and attitudes between people with ME/CFS and people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to see if ME/CFS patients have distinctive personality characteristics. Researchers found that ME/CFS patients and RA patients were actually quite similar in most personality measures, and the common stereotype that ME/CFS patients are perfectionists with negative views about psychiatry was not supported.
This study challenges the persistent misconception that ME/CFS is primarily a psychological disorder caused by perfectionism or psychiatric resistance. By demonstrating that ME/CFS patients have similar personality profiles to RA patients with a chronic illness, it supports the biological nature of ME/CFS and may help reduce stigma. Understanding that social difficulties in ME/CFS relate primarily to functional limitations rather than personality pathology has implications for treatment approaches.
This study does not prove that psychological factors play no role in ME/CFS pathophysiology or symptom expression. As a cross-sectional design, it cannot establish causation or determine whether observed personality traits preceded or resulted from illness. The study was conducted in 1999 with relatively small sample sizes, and findings may not generalize to all ME/CFS populations or diagnostic criteria used today.
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
Wood, B & Wessely, S (1999). Personality and social attitudes in chronic fatigue syndrome.. Journal of psychosomatic research. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-3999(99)00025-2
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-wood-1999-personality-social,
author = {Wood, B and Wessely, S},
title = {Personality and social attitudes in chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Journal of psychosomatic research},
year = {1999},
doi = {10.1016/s0022-3999(99)00025-2},
note = {PubMed: 10616232},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/wood-1999-personality-social},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/wood-1999-personality-social
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