Abstract
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a functional, somatic condition that is characterised by persistent fatigue/exhaustion and severely impaired daily functioning. We aim to provide more clarity in the relationship between personality and CFS in a large well-documented dataset, comparing the personality dimensions of adults with CFS with three control groups: healthy individuals, patients with a long-term illness and people referred for psychiatric counselling. We will examine the predictive value of personality dimensions on the short and long term outcomes after group cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for CFS. At last, we want to identify characteristics that can distinguish between CFS patients who respond well to CBT and those who show little to no progress."
For this purpose, we have a unique and large dataset ready, consisting of baseline real-life data from 1150 CFS-patients. During the past years additional data was collected for the 3 control groups (each n≈300) for the personality case control study and outcome data at four time intervals both at short and long term (up to 18 years after CBT, n=350).
The data are being analysed and interpreted by a multidisciplinary research team with extensive research experience and expertise in psychology, psychiatry, internal medicine, statistics and methodology. Our findings will be published in leading scientific journals and will be highly relevant to improve the evaluation of CFS and the effectiveness of current CFS interventions.
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