The biopsychosocial model and chronic fatigue syndrome

Perfectionism, depression and anxiety in chronic fatigue syndrome: A systematic review

OBJECTIVE

High levels of depression and anxiety are experienced alongside Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME). Psychological causal and maintenance factors are not well-understood. Perfectionism is a multifactorial, transdiagnostic risk factor for various physical and mental health conditions. This systematic review assesses the association between perfectionism and depression and/or anxiety in people with CFS/ME.

METHOD

Systematic literature searches used a combination of terms for 'perfectionism', 'depression', 'anxiety' and 'CFS/ME'. Peer-reviewed English-language papers reporting quantitative data regarding the relationship between perfectionism and depression and/or anxiety in adults (aged 18-65 years) with a clinical diagnosis of CFS/ME were included. Screening, selection and assessment of risk of bias was completed independently by two authors. Bivariate and multivariate associations between perfectionism and anxiety and depression were extracted. Data were synthesised narratively.

RESULTS

Seven studies, reported in eight papers, were included. Seven examined the relationship between perfectionism and depression. Moderate-strong significant positive associations were found between depression and maladaptive perfectionism (r = 0.42 to .48, p < .01), and its component factors of concern over mistakes (r = 0.40 to .60, p < .01) and doubts about actions (r = 0.51 to .60, p < .01). Methodological limitations included sample size justification and selection, psychometric measures, and control of potential confounders.

CONCLUSION

Maladaptive perfectionism is consistently associated with depression in patients with CFS/ME. The relationship between perfectionism and anxiety is under-researched. Corroboration is required from longitudinal, cross-cultural studies. Clinical understanding may be increased through examining the interplay between maladaptive perfectionism, depression and anxiety and the physical and cognitive symptoms of CFS/ME.

Biopsychosocial model of illnesses in primary care: A hermeneutic literature review

Biopsychosocial model is a useful worldview for primary care or family doctors. However, it is often considered as impractical or too complicated. The objective of this study is to review the implementation of the biopsychosocial model in clinical practice, and its contributions to clinical outcomes. Hermeneutic circle literature review was conducted to provide experiential learning in an attempt to understand biopscyhosocial model, first developed by George Engel. Literature search started with review articles in Medline and Scopus as search engines. Citations from previous articles, editorials, and research articles were identified and interpreted in the context of the knowledge derived from all identified relevant articles. The progress of biopsychosocial model has been slow, and primary care doctors do not implement biopsychosocial medicine in their practice, while biomedical thinking and approach are still the dominant model. Biopsychosocial research addressed chronic illnesses and functional disorders as conditions in need for biopsychosocial model implementation. As payment scheme, clinical guidelines and clinical performance indicators are biomedically oriented, there is no incentive for primary care doctors to adopt biopsychosocial model in their practice. Workload and lack of competence in primary care may hinder the implementation of biopsychosocial model. Biopsychosocial model helps primary care doctors to understand interactions among biological and psychosocial components of illnesses to improve the dyadic relationship between clinicians and their patients and multidisciplinary approaches in patient care. Biopsychosocial model potentially improves clinical outcomes for chronic diseases and functional illnesses seen in primary care.