Bonvanie, Irma J, Kallesøe, Karen H, Janssens, Karin A M et al. · The Journal of pediatrics · 2017 · DOI
This review looked at 27 studies testing whether talking therapies and psychological treatments help children with long-lasting physical symptoms like pain, fatigue, and nausea. The researchers found that psychological treatments did help reduce symptoms, disability, and school absences, and these improvements lasted even after treatment ended.
While this review focuses on functional somatic symptoms generally rather than ME/CFS specifically, it demonstrates that psychological approaches can meaningfully reduce symptom burden and functional disability in children with persistent physical symptoms—findings relevant to understanding non-pharmacological treatment options for pediatric ME/CFS. The identification of sustained improvements post-treatment suggests potential long-term benefits worth investigating in ME/CFS populations.
This review does not establish that psychological treatments are a primary cure for functional somatic symptoms or that symptoms are primarily psychological in origin. The study cannot determine which specific psychological techniques are most effective, nor can it prove causation—it only demonstrates association between treatment and symptom reduction. Additionally, the heterogeneity and variety of outcome measures mean results should be interpreted cautiously and may not generalize equally to all children or symptom presentations.
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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