Abbey, S E, Garfinkel, P E · Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 1990 · DOI
This review article examines ME/CFS and the role psychiatrists can play in caring for patients. The authors note that ME/CFS involves thinking difficulties, mood changes, and behavioral symptoms alongside fatigue. They explain what psychiatrists should know about the condition and how they can help in assessment and treatment.
This paper was influential in establishing the medical legitimacy of ME/CFS and clarifying that psychiatric symptoms are features of the illness, not its cause. It helped encourage psychiatric collaboration in comprehensive patient care rather than viewing ME/CFS as primarily psychiatric, which was crucial for advancing biopsychosocial assessment approaches.
This review does not establish the etiology of ME/CFS or prove any specific pathophysiological mechanism. It does not present original research data and cannot be used to support claims about cause-and-effect relationships. The paper reflects 1990-era knowledge and does not address discoveries made in subsequent decades of ME/CFS research.
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 →
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