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Neuropsychological and psychiatric abnormalities in myalgic encephalomyelitis: A preliminary report
Author(s) -
Riccio Massimo,
Thompson Christopher,
Wilson Barbara,
Morgan D. J. Richard,
Lant Ariel F.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
british journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0144-6657
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1992.tb00975.x
Subject(s) - psychology , psychoticism , neuropsychology , psychiatry , anosognosia , personality , neuropsychological test , extraversion and introversion , psychometrics , clinical psychology , cognitive disorder , cognition , big five personality traits , social psychology , cognitive impairment
Ten patients attending one general medical hospital clinic who fulfilled operational criteria for the diagnosis of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and with a history longer than three months, underwent a series of standardized neuropsychological and psychiatric tests. Nine were able to complete the tests and were individually matched with a normal control group for age, sex, educational background and premorbid intelligence. The ME subjects showed inferior performance to the controls on two tests of verbal memory. Their personality scores displayed less extraversion and less psychoticism. This is the first report of objective neuropsychological abnormalities in patients with ME, suggesting a discrete deterioration of short‐term memory. The findings may also suggest a concurrent psychiatric component of the condition, but the direction of causality remains to be clarified.