Ingman, Tom, Ali, Sheila, Bhui, Kamaldeep et al. · The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science · 2016 · DOI
This study looked at whether cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)—a talking therapy that helps change thought patterns and behaviours—works equally well for ME/CFS patients from Black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds compared to White British patients. Both groups showed significant improvements in fatigue, physical functioning, and ability to work or socialise after CBT treatment. Importantly, BME patients improved despite starting with more negative beliefs about their condition and more avoidance behaviours.
This is the first study to systematically examine whether CBT effectiveness for ME/CFS extends to ethnically diverse populations, addressing a significant gap in treatment equity research. Understanding that BME patients can benefit from CBT despite different baseline cognitive and behavioural patterns is important for ensuring treatment access and cultural responsiveness across all patient groups.
This study does not prove that CBT is the optimal or only effective treatment for ME/CFS in any population, nor does it establish why BME and White British patients had different baseline psychological profiles. The observational design cannot determine whether improvements were due to CBT specifically or other factors like time, regression to the mean, or expectancy effects. It also does not explore whether cultural adaptations to CBT might further improve outcomes for BME patients.
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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