Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia - Dilemmas in diagnosis and clinical management

There has been a resurgence of interest in recent years in both chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. These perplexing and common clinical conditions are a source of signifiant patient morbidity and frame one of the more enduring dilemmas of contemporary Western medical thought, namely the ambiguous interface between mind and body. In this article, the current definitions are reviewed, and a framework for an emerging psychobiological model of these syndromes is presented. These issues are synthesized into a pragmatic approach to clinical management.