ReviewHealth psychology open
Cognitive behavioural therapy for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome is not effective. Re-analysis of a Cochrane review.
Review in Health psychology open. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Cognitive behavioural therapy for the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome in adults - a meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Trial
- Dose-effect of long-snake-like moxibustion for chronic fatigue syndrome: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of translational medicine · 2023Trial
- An Overview of Severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- The PACE Trial's GET Manual for Therapists Exposes the Fixed Incremental Nature of Graded Exercise Therapy for ME/CFS.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- CBT and graded exercise therapy studies have proven that ME/CFS and long COVID are physical diseases, yet no one is aware of that.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- Review
- Persisting Shadows: Unraveling the Impact of Long COVID-19 on Respiratory, Cardiovascular, and Nervous Systems.Infectious disease reports · 2023Review
- How do German General Practitioners Manage Long-/Post-COVID? A Qualitative Study in Primary Care.Viruses · 2023Article
- The Draft Report by the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Healthcare Does Not Provide Any Evidence That Graded Exercise Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Are Safe and Effective Treatments for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Focus on post-exertional malaise when approaching ME/CFS in specialist healthcare improves satisfaction and reduces deterioration.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Article
- Physical and mental fatigue in people with non-communicable chronic diseases.Annals of medicine · 2022Article
- The Updated NICE Guidance Exposed the Serious Flaws in CBT and Graded Exercise Therapy Trials for ME/CFS.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Is It Useful to Question the Recovery Behaviour of Patients with ME/CFS or Long COVID?Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- An Audit of UK Hospital Doctors' Knowledge and Experience of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2021Article
- Are there subgroups of chronic fatigue syndrome? An exploratory cluster analysis of biological markers.Journal of translational medicine · 2021Article
- Could Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Be an Effective Treatment for Long COVID and Post COVID-19 Fatigue Syndrome? Lessons from the Qure Study for Q-Fever Fatigue Syndrome.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Review
- Understanding the economic impact of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome in Ireland: a qualitative study.HRB open research · 2020Article
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
Analysis of the 2008 Cochrane review of cognitive behavioural therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome shows that seven patients with mild chronic fatigue syndrome need to be treated for one to report a small, short-lived subjective improvement of fatigue. This is not matched by an objective improvement of physical fitness or employment and illness benefit status. Most studies in the Cochrane review failed to report on safety or adverse reactions. Patient evidence suggests adverse outcomes in 20 per cent of cases. If a trial of a drug or surgical procedure uncovered a similar high rate, it would be unlikely to be accepted as safe. It is time to downgrade cognitive behavioural therapy to an adjunct support-level therapy, rather than a treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.