Jenewein, Josef · Therapeutische Umschau. Revue therapeutique · 2013 · DOI
Back pain is common in people with somatoform disorders, where physical symptoms occur without a clear medical cause. About 10–20% of back pain patients have this type of disorder, and up to half also experience depression or anxiety. Doctors need to distinguish somatoform pain from other conditions like fibromyalgia and ME/CFS. Treatment typically involves talk therapy, relaxation techniques, physical activity, and sometimes antidepressant medications.
This review is relevant to ME/CFS research because it highlights the importance of distinguishing somatoform pain disorders from other chronic widespread pain conditions. Understanding diagnostic boundaries helps researchers and clinicians avoid misclassification and ensures ME/CFS patients receive appropriate investigations and treatments rather than being attributed solely to psychiatric causes.
This review does not prove that back pain in ME/CFS patients is primarily psychiatric in origin, nor does it establish that psychological treatment alone is sufficient for all patients with chronic pain syndromes. The study does not provide new empirical evidence comparing ME/CFS to somatoform disorders or measuring treatment outcomes in ME/CFS populations specifically.
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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