Grover, Sandeep, Kate, Natasha · International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England) · 2013 · DOI
This review discusses how doctors who specialize in both medical and mental health (called consultation-liaison psychiatrists) can help patients with ME/CFS and similar conditions where physical symptoms don't have a clear medical explanation. The review explains that these patients often experience depression and anxiety alongside their physical symptoms, and they use healthcare services frequently. Treatment options include talking therapies, cognitive behavior therapy, and antidepressants, which work with varying degrees of success.
This review is relevant to ME/CFS because it addresses the high rates of psychiatric comorbidity in patients with medically unexplained symptoms and proposes integrated psychiatric care as a management strategy. Understanding the role of mental health support alongside medical care may help improve outcomes and reduce unnecessary healthcare utilization in ME/CFS populations.
This review does not establish that psychiatric disorders cause ME/CFS or that psychological treatment alone is curative for the physical symptoms of ME/CFS. It does not provide quantitative evidence comparing the effectiveness of different treatment approaches, nor does it address disease-specific mechanisms or biomarkers. The review also does not clarify whether psychiatric symptoms are primary features or secondary consequences of the illness.
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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