Legitimizing myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: indications of change over a decade

ABSTRACT

This commentary identifies recent scientific and clinical milestones that appear to have increased legitimization of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). These milestones include government-funded reports recognizing the seriousness of ME/CFS, new initiatives for biomedical research sponsored by the US National Institutes of Health, official endorsement of the ME/CFS name, publication of practitioner primers, and the launch of a new peer-review fatigue journal. These positive developments are tempered by ongoing illness challenges including patient stigma, absence of diagnostic markers, a lack of established treatments, and a dearth of researchers and knowledgeable, interested clinicians.

KEYWORDS:

• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• myalgic encephalomyelitis
• stigma
• legitimacy
• fatigue

Acknowledgements

I thank Mary Dimmock and Sameera Ramjan for their thoughtful comments on the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The author is first author of the ME/CFS Primer for Clinical Practitioners.

2 The author is the journal editor of Fatigue.

3 The author is president of the IACFS/ME.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fred Friedberg

Fred Friedberg is a research associate professor at the Stony Brook University School of Medicine. His research focuses on the relation between biology and behavior in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.