Anxiety

Anxiety is a general term for several disorders that cause nervousness, fear, apprehension, worrying and unease. A sudden surge of overwhelming anxiety and fear is called a panic attack.

Anxiety symptoms occur with ME/CFS, but their origin tends to be from physiologic problems with the autonomic nervous system, sensory integration, blood flow or blood volume as oppose to emotional or psychiatric factors.

In Dr. David Bell's words: "It is true that many persons with CFS experience anxiety. But because CFS patients tend not to have obvious, diagnosable psychiatric illnesses, I suspect that when panic occurs in CFS patients, the cause is physiological, not psychiatric. Whatever else this disease does to the human brain, it includes agitation in its repertoire."

Some anxiety symptoms in those living with ME/CFS may stem from other factors often encountered by patients, such as feeling ‘delegitimized’ by the medical community, poor prognosis, and loss of income, livelihood, and relationships.

Prevalence

 * Katrina Berne reports a prevalence of 70-90% for anxiety.

Notable studies

 * Anxiety and depression in chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME): Examining the incidence of health anxiety in CFS/ME (Abstract)