Chronic fatigue syndrome: is the biopsychosocial model responsible for patient dissatisfaction and harm?

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

The trial behind it

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

Who cites it

15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

1. Behavioural modification interventions for medically unexplained symptoms in primary care: systematic reviews and economic evaluation.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2020
   Pooled it
2. Der Nervenarzt · 2026
   Article
3. Reframing ME/CFS: toward a unified mechanistic model of chronic post-infectious diseases.Journal of translational medicine · 2026
   Review
4. C-reactive protein is associated with pain-type somatic symptoms independent of mental health symptoms in adolescents: Evidence from the ALSPAC study.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025
   Article
5. The Illness-Related Distress Scale: development and psychometric evaluation of a new transdiagnostic measure.Psychological medicine · 2025
   Article
6. Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Organic Disease or Psychosomatic Illness? A Re-Examination of the Royal Free Epidemic of 1955.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2020
   Article
7. Treating medically unexplained symptoms via improving access to psychological therapy (IAPT): major limitations identified.BMC psychology · 2020
   Review
8. "Honorable Toward Your Whole Self": Experiences of the Body in Fatigued Breast Cancer Survivors.Frontiers in psychology · 2020
   Article
9. How have selection bias and disease misclassification undermined the validity of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome studies?Journal of health psychology · 2019
   Review
10. The New Old (and Old New) Medical Model: Four Decades Navigating the Biomedical and Psychosocial Understandings of Health and Illness.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2017
    Review
11. Adult patients' experiences of NHS specialist services for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME): a qualitative study in England.BMC health services research · 2017
    Article
12. Chronic fatigue syndrome and the biopsychosocial model.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2016
    Article
13. Chronic fatigue syndrome: is the biopsychosocial model responsible for patient dissatisfaction and harm?The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2016
    Article
14. Suicidal ideation in non-depressed individuals: The effects of a chronic, misunderstood illness.Journal of health psychology
    Article
15. Qigong and Tai Chi for ME/CFS: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Global advances in integrative medicine and health
    Article

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

Abstract

PubMed holds no abstract for this paper.

Indexed as