Trauma

Trauma can be physical (traumatic injury) resulting in wound or injury or a "psychologically upsetting experience that  produces  an emotional or mental disorder or otherwise has lasting negative effects on a person's thoughts, feelings, or behavior."

Adverse Childhood Experiences
Childhood experiences, both positive and negative ones, have been found to have a wide variety of impacts on a person's life and their future, including effects on their health and risk of violence as adults. The CDC refers to the negative experiences of children as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). The CDC and other researchers has carried out extensive research into Adverse Childhood Experiences, finding that they are linked to risky health behaviors (e.g., smoking), the development of many chronic illnesses and long-term health conditions, a lower life potential, and even early death.

ACEs and ME/CFS
The CDC developed both the original Adverse Childhood Experiences research and the Fukuda criteria for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but has not analysed the influence of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Heins et al. (2011) concluded:

Childhood trauma incorrectly linked to ME/CFS
A study suggesting a role for childhood trauma in ME/CFS used the broad empirical definition of ME/CFS, which resulted in a biased sample with over representation of individuals with depression and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The unusually high proportion of subjects with serious psychiatric problems likely explains the study finding of an association between ME/CFS and adverse childhood experiences.

No other studies have suggested a higher rate of childhood trauma in those with confirmed ME/CFS as opposed to nonspecific chronic fatigue (CF). In a study of 22 Norwegian adolescents with ME/CFS, no participant reported prior sexual abuse.

Child abuse and idiopathic chronic fatigue, not CFS
Taylor & Jason (2001) investigated possible links between different types of child abuse and CF in general, finding that a history of child sexual abuse was "significantly more likely" in people who had with idiopathic chronic fatigue (chronic fatigue which has no known cause and is not chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)), or chronic fatigue linked to a mental health condition, or chronic fatigue resulting from a known medical condition. Taylor & Jason concluded that CFS did not have a significant link with any form of child abuse history.

Adult trauma and stress linked to ME/CFS
Physical trauma (for example, accident or injury) and overwhelming emotional stress are known triggers reported in a proportion of people who develop ME/CFS, but these are significantly less common than developing the illness after a virus or bacterial infection. A number of risk factors have also been identified, including a genetic link.

Notable studies

 * 2001, Sexual abuse, physical abuse, chronic fatigue, and chronic fatigue syndrome: a community-based study (Abstract)


 * 2003, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome-like Illness among Gulf War Veterans: A Population-based Survey of 30,000 Veterans (Full text)
 * This study assessed veterans with both chronic fatigue syndrome and idiopathic chronic fatigue (persistent chronic fatigue not meeting the diagnostic criteria for CFS). Previous studies had found veterans with PTSD had higher rates of CFS than the general population, and the study looked to see if this could be caused by the presence of PTSD or by other factors, for example environmental factors caused by the physical environment the Gulf War veterans experienced. The study reported:

"'The prevalence of PTSD increased with stress intensity, from 3.3 percent to 22.6 percent (test for trend: p < 0.01). In contrast, risk of CFS-like illness did not show a monotonic relation with stressor intensity for the entire stress spectrum. Prevalence increased significantly when nondeployed troops (0.8 percent) were compared with troops deployed outside of the Gulf region (1.7 percent) and when this latter group was compared with troops deployed to the Gulf in noncombat roles (5.4 percent). However, no significant difference in risk of CFS-like illness occurred among four groups of Gulf veterans with different stressor intensities (p > 0.15).'"
 * 2011, Childhood maltreatment and the response to cognitive behavior therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome (Abstract)
 * 2019, Socioeconomic Deprivation, Adverse Childhood Experiences and Medical Disorders in Adulthood: Mechanisms and Associations (Full text)

Talks, interviews and blogs

 * 2009, Chronic fatigue syndrome & child abuse: Disordered patients or disordered research?