Psychiatric management of PVFS (considered as a subtype of CFS) is a pragmatic approach to a disorder for which strictly biomedical treatments have so far had little to offer. Psychiatric assessment embraces a comprehensive (biopsychosocial) approach, and distinguishes factors that perpetuate the condition from those that may have precipitated it. Treatments are targeted at perpetuating factors. Few controlled treatment trials have been reported in patients selected specifically as meeting cr...