ABSTRACT
Assessment of psychological well-being is important for young people with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)/myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), for two reasons: differential diagnosis and comorbidity. Conditions that may cause similar symptoms include anxiety, depressive disorder and school refusal — all three of which commonly occur in children with CFS/ME. Other mental health consequences include somatisation and social withdrawal. Professionals prefer a term that does not make implications about aetiology; whereas sufferers and their families prefer a term that implies an organic cause, albeit unknown, and shy away from a term that seems uncomfortably vague and could be taken to imply that the illness is primarily psychological. The two main strands of the management of CFS/ME target activity and sleep. Sleep quality is often poor, with frequent waking and difficulty getting back to sleep, as is seen commonly in adolescent depression.
