ArticleJournal of the Royal Society of Medicine2020
Cognitive behavioural therapy for chronic fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome: outcomes from a specialist clinic in the UK.
Article in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Recent research in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: an evidence map.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Trial
- Multimodal approach to identify neuropsychophysiological subgroups in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and their relevance for rehabilitation: protocol for a mechanistic cross-sectional and longitudinal study.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy on Sleep Outcome for Patients With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in a Routine Clinical Service.Europe's journal of psychology · 2026Article
- The Role of Psychological Flexibility in Health-Related Quality of Life Among Patients With Persistent Physical Symptoms Associated With Indoor Environment and Chronic Fatigue - 9-Month Follow-Up of a Randomized Controlled Trial.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2026Article
- The Development and Acceptability of a Psychology-Based Intervention for Debilitating Symptom Complexes Attributed to Ticks.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- Recovery from chronic fatigue syndrome: a reflexive thematic analysis of experiences of people before, during and after treatment.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2025Article
- Age-specific alterations of the gut mycobiome in patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and identification of potential diagnostic biomarkers.BMC microbiology · 2025Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the 2021 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Guidelines on Public Perspectives Toward Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Thematic and Sentiment Analysis on Twitter (Rebranded as X).Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Article
- Assessment of symptoms in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: a comparative study of existing scales.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Review
- Neurophenotypes of COVID-19: Risk factors and recovery outcomes.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2023Article
- Neurophenotypes of COVID-19: risk factors and recovery outcomes.Research square · 2023Article
- Markers of oxidative stress during post-COVID-19 fatigue: a hypothesis-generating, exploratory pilot study on hospital employees.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Response to Adamson et al. (2020): 'Cognitive behavioural therapy for chronic fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome: Outcomes from a specialist clinic in the UK'.Journal of health psychology · 2022Article
- Is It Useful to Question the Recovery Behaviour of Patients with ME/CFS or Long COVID?Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Long COVID-19 syndrome as a fourth phase of SARS-CoV-2 infection.Le infezioni in medicina · 2022Review
- The Qigong of Prolong Life With Nine Turn Method Relieve Fatigue, Sleep, Anxiety and Depression in Patients With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Study.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
- Effects of the Prolong Life With Nine Turn Method (Yan Nian Jiu Zhuan) Qigong on Brain Functional Changes in Patients With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Terms of Fatigue and Quality of Life.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Article
- Adiponectin and Nitric Oxide Deficiency-Induced Cognitive Impairment in Fatigued Home-Resident in Mature and Older Adults: A Case-Control Study.Pain research & management · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesCognitive behavioural therapy is commonly used to treat chronic fatigue syndrome and has been shown to be effective for reducing fatigue and improving physical functioning. Most of the evidence on the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome is from randomised control trials, but there are only a few studies in naturalistic treatment settings. Our aim was to examine the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome in a naturalistic setting and examine what factors, if any, predicted outcome.
designUsing linear mixed effects analysis, we analysed patients' self-reported symptomology over the course of treatment and at three-month follow-up. Furthermore, we explored what baseline factors were associated with improvement at follow-up.
settingData were available for 995 patients receiving cognitive behavioural therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome at an outpatient clinic in the UK.
participantsParticipants were referred consecutively to a specialist unit for chronic fatigue or chronic fatigue syndrome.
main outcome measuresPatients were assessed throughout their treatment using self-report measures including the Chalder Fatigue Scale, 36-item Short Form Health Survey, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and Global Improvement and Satisfaction.
resultsPatients' fatigue, physical functioning and social adjustment scores significantly improved over the duration of treatment with medium to large effect sizes (|d| = 0.45-0.91). Furthermore, 85% of patients self-reported that they felt an improvement in their fatigue at follow-up and 90% were satisfied with their treatment. None of the regression models convincingly predicted improvement in outcomes with the best model being (R
conclusionsPatients' fatigue, physical functioning and social adjustment all significantly improved following cognitive behavioural therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome in a naturalistic outpatient setting. These findings support the growing evidence from previous randomised control trials and suggest that cognitive behavioural therapy could be an effective treatment in routine treatment settings.
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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.