Post-traumatic stress disorder

Nancy Klimas has noted that post-traumatic stress disorder is more common in ME/CFS patients than in the general population. This is attributed to the poor treatment of ME/CFS patients by the medical community, as well as the stigma surrounding the illness and the lack of support patients receive.

In an interview in the Miami Herald in 2009, Klimas said: "I've had patients who met posttraumatic stress disorder criteria, where their trauma was their interaction with their physician around this illness. They came to a doctor with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; they left the doctor with PTSD."

Both PTSD and chronic illness increase the risk of suicide, which is high in ME/CFS patients.

Learn more

 * Livets bilder - The most extreme consequence - trauma and premature death