ReviewBMC medicine2010
Chronic fatigue syndrome: Harvey and Wessely's (bio)psychosocial model versus a bio(psychosocial) model based on inflammatory and oxidative and nitrosative stress pathways.
Review in BMC medicine, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of cognitive impairment in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).Scientific reports · 2022Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of ursodeoxycholic acid composite on fatigued patients with elevated liver function and/or fatty liver: a multi-centre, randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial.International journal of clinical practice · 2016Trial
- Efficacy and Safety of "URSA Complex" in Subjects with Physical Fatigue: A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Trial.Chinese medical journal · 2016Trial
- Sesame Lignans and Vitamin E Supplementation Improve Subjective Statuses and Anti-Oxidative Capacity in Healthy Humans With Feelings of Daily Fatigue.Global journal of health science · 2015Trial
- A randomized controlled trial of qigong exercise on fatigue symptoms, functioning, and telomerase activity in persons with chronic fatigue or chronic fatigue syndrome.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2012Trial
- Review
- Low-Dose Ionizing Radiation and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): A Review of Recent Evidence and Future Research Directions Toward the Elucidation of a Metabolic, Immunologic, and Signaling Cascade.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Re-visiting professional ethics in psychotherapy: reflections on the use of talking therapies as a supportive adjunct for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and 'medically unexplained symptoms'.Journal of medical ethics · 2026Article
- Effects of candesartan on cellular redox status and bioenergetics of cardiac tissue in normal and chronically stressed rats.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Histone phosphorylation analysis of two main TCM syndromes of chronic fatigue syndrome.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Comparable Immune Alterations and Inflammatory Signatures in ME/CFS and Long COVID.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Clinical Evaluation of Oxidative Stress Markers in Patients with Long COVID During the Omicron Phase in Japan.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Cognitive Dysfunction in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome-Aetiology and Potential Treatments.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Sleep Disorders and Fatigue among Patients with MS: The Role of Depression, Stress, and Anxiety.Neurology research international · 2024Article
- Treatments of chronic fatigue syndrome and its debilitating comorbidities: a 12-year population-based study.Journal of translational medicine · 2022Article
- Pathway Phenotypes Underpinning Depression, Anxiety, and Chronic Fatigue Symptoms Due to Acute Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Precision Nomothetic Psychiatry Analysis.Journal of personalized medicine · 2022Article
- How mycobacterium tuberculosis infection could lead to the increasing risks of chronic fatigue syndrome and the potential immunological effects: a population-based retrospective cohort study.Journal of translational medicine · 2022Article
- Intersections between pneumonia, lowered oxygen saturation percentage and immune activation mediate depression, anxiety, and chronic fatigue syndrome-like symptoms due to COVID-19: A nomothetic network approach.Journal of affective disorders · 2022Article
- Neurochemical abnormalities in chronic fatigue syndrome: a pilot magnetic resonance spectroscopy study at 7 Tesla.Psychopharmacology · 2022Article
- Aberrations in the Cross-Talks Among Redox, Nuclear Factor-κB, and Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway Signaling Underpin Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn a recently published paper, Harvey and Wessely put forward a 'biopsychosocial' explanatory model for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), which is proposed to be applicable to (chronic) fatigue even when apparent medical causes are present.
methodsHere, we review the model proposed by Harvey and Wessely, which is the rationale for behaviourally oriented interventions, such as cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET), and compare this model with a biological model, in which inflammatory, immune, oxidative and nitrosative (IO&NS) pathways are key elements. DISCUSSION: Although human and animal studies have established that the pathophysiology of ME/CFS includes IO&NS pathways, these abnormalities are not included in the model proposed by Harvey and Wessely. Activation of IO&NS pathways is known to induce fatigue and somatic (F&S) symptoms and can be induced or maintained by viral and bacterial infections, physical and psychosocial stressors, or organic disorders such as (auto)immune disorders. Studies have shown that ME/CFS and major depression are both clinical manifestations of shared IO&NS pathways, and that both disorders can be discriminated by specific symptoms and unshared or differentiating pathways. Interventions with CBT/GET are potentially harmful for many patients with ME/CFS, since the underlying pathophysiological abnormalities may be intensified by physical stressors.
conclusionsIn contrast to Harvey and Wessely's (bio)psychosocial model for ME/CFS a bio(psychosocial) model based upon IO&NS abnormalities is likely more appropriate to this complex disorder. In clinical practice, we suggest physicians should also explore the IO&NS pathophysiology by applying laboratory tests that examine the pathways involved.
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