Expert Centre for Chronic Fatigue
The Expert Centre for Chronic Fatigue (ECCF) is a treatment facility and research centre for chronic fatigue.
- The ECCF studies chronic fatigue and it determinants, develops interventions and investigates the mechanisms of change of evidence-based treatments for fatigue.
- The ECCF is also a treatment facility. Each year about 700 patients are referred for assessment and/or treatment of chronic fatigue. The interventions applied, mostly cognitive behavioural, are evidence based. Patients can follow individual face to face therapy, web-based therapy and group therapy. Different groups of patients are referred to the ECCF: patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), both adults and adolescents; patients with a chronic illness who suffer from severe fatigue and patients with cancer related fatigue following successful treatment of cancer.
Current projects
Currently we have research projects on:
- Chronic fatigue syndrome: development of web-based cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for adult CFS patients and testing its efficacy in a RCT; long-term follow-up after CBT for CFS; the efficacy of Anakinra on CFS symptoms tested in a RCT; Neurobiological correlates of the change in CFS symptoms following CBT; the role of attentional bias in CFS; implementation of stepped care for CFS in the Netherlands; the role of the partner in CBT for CFS.
- Chronic fatigue in chronic illness: development of web-based CBT for chronically fatigued patients with Diabetes Type 1; determining the efficacy of CBT combined with graded exercise therapy for patients with Myotonic Dystrophia (FP7 project Optimistic); determining the efficacy of CBT for chronic fatigue in MS; determining the efficacy of Group CBT for fatigue in Sjogren’s disease; chronic fatigue in Lyme’s disease.
- Cancer related fatigue: efficacy of web-based CBT for chronically fatigued breast cancer survivors; long term follow-up of CBT for cancer related fatigue; the efficacy of graded exercise or CBT for severely fatigued patients with advanced cancer.
Collaboration
Our research group is a multidisciplinary collaboration. We work together with researchers of several (medical) institutes in the Netherlands, Europe and the US. The research group is part of the theme human movement disorders of the FC Donders Institute.
More information:
Hans Knoop, Phd, info@nkcv.nl