Ortega, Francisco, Zorzanelli, Rafaela · Historia, ciencias, saude--Manguinhos · 2010 · DOI
This article examines how ME/CFS came to be understood as a brain-based illness rather than purely a physical one. The authors explore the history of how brain imaging and neuroscience research influenced medical thinking about ME/CFS, and how this shift reflected broader changes in how society views illness in general—increasingly looking to the brain as the primary source of disease.
This work is important because it illuminates how ME/CFS research and clinical perception are shaped by broader scientific and cultural trends, not just by empirical evidence. Understanding this history can help patients and advocates recognize that the focus on brain-centered explanations reflects societal biases in neuroscience, and may not fully reflect the complex, multisystem nature of ME/CFS.
This study does not prove that brain-based hypotheses are incorrect or that viral or immune explanations are superior. It also does not establish causation or validate any particular mechanism of ME/CFS. Rather, it is a critical examination of how medical paradigms shift for reasons that include cultural factors beyond empirical evidence.
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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