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Efforts to Reduce Heterogeneity in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research

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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

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Abstract

Individuals with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) suffer from persistent, debilitating fatigue, accompanied by a variety of neuropsychiatric, infectious, and rheumatological symptoms. Researchers have not yet discovered the cause of CFS, but a variety of etiologies have been proposed, ranging from viral/immunological (Komaroff, 1988; Strober, 1994) to psychiatric (Manu, Lane, & Matthews, 1992). As this range of possibilities suggests, arguments exist as to whether CFS is a psychiatric condition resulting from psychological stressors or a nonpsychiatric medical disorder resulting directly from an infectious or toxic agent. Those favoring a psychiatric interpretation have pointed to an increased incidence of affective symptomatology in CFS patient samples (Kruesi, Dale, & Straus, 1989; Lane, Manu, Matthews, 1991). In contrast, those supporting a viral/immunological hypothesis have noted immune system dysregulation (Landay, Jessop, Lennette, & Levy, 1991; Patarca, Klimas, Lugtendorf, Antoni, & Fletcher, 1994) and abnormalities on neuroimaging (Natelson, Cohen, Brassloff, & Lee, 1993) in CFS samples. David (1991) presented three general possibilities as to the role of psychiatric disturbance in CFS.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Research, Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, West Orange, New Jersey, USA

    Christopher Christodoulou Ph.D., John DeLuca, Susan K. Johnson & Gudrun Lange

  2. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA

    Christopher Christodoulou Ph.D., John DeLuca, Susan K. Johnson & Gudrun Lange

  3. Department of Neurosciences, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA

    John DeLuca, Susan K. Johnson, Gudrun Lange & Benjamin H. Natelson

Authors
  1. Christopher Christodoulou Ph.D.
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  2. John DeLuca
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  3. Susan K. Johnson
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  4. Gudrun Lange
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  5. Benjamin H. Natelson
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Shlomo Yehuda

  2. Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    David I. Mostofsky

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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Christodoulou, C., DeLuca, J., Johnson, S.K., Lange, G., Natelson, B.H. (1997). Efforts to Reduce Heterogeneity in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research. In: Yehuda, S., Mostofsky, D.I. (eds) Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5953-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5953-5_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-7728-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-5953-5

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