Attitudes regarding chronic fatigue syndrome: the importance of a name.
Jason, L A, Taylor, R R, Stepanek, Z et al.·Journal of health psychology·2001
This study found that what doctors and students call ME/CFS affects how they think about the condition. When it was called "myalgic encephalopathy," people were more likely to believe it had a physical cause in the body. The name used also influenced whether healthcare workers thought patients were truly ill or just depressed. This suggests that even the language we use to describe ME/CFS can shape people's beliefs about how serious it is and how it should be treated.