How it went
Did it last?
- 6 of 57 said the benefit wore off (including the 1 who relapsed).
- 5 of 57 needed to keep doing it to stay well.
Read from what people wrote. A story that ends without a follow-up counts as lasting, so treat these as minimums.
| Outcome described | Accounts | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Full recovery | 29 | 51% |
| Near-full | 10 | 18% |
| Substantial | 14 | 25% |
| Partial | 3 | 5% |
| Relapsed | 1 | 2% |
| No benefit | 0 | 0% |
By how ill people were
| Severity at worst | How it went | n | Recovered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moderate | 7 | 71% | |
| Severe | 34 | 68% | |
| Very severe | 6 | 50% |
10 accounts don’t say how ill the person was.
Who published these accounts
53% of these accounts are on pages that sell this treatment or a program around it. Those pages publish their successes; compare the independent row.
How often it comes up
Posts that mention CBT and psychotherapy, per 1,000 posts each year. Hover a point for the count.
Show as a table
| Year | Posts mentioning it | All posts | Per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 0 | 184 | 0.0 |
| 2010 | 2 | 682 | 2.9 |
| 2011 | 0 | 704 | 0.0 |
| 2012 | 3 | 1,491 | 2.0 |
| 2013 | 5 | 1,708 | 2.9 |
| 2014 | 12 | 2,352 | 5.1 |
| 2015 | 6 | 2,158 | 2.8 |
| 2016 | 8 | 1,431 | 5.6 |
| 2017 | 31 | 3,110 | 10.0 |
| 2018 | 6 | 2,201 | 2.7 |
| 2019 | 6 | 1,075 | 5.6 |
| 2020 | 2 | 2,581 | 0.8 |
| 2021 | 6 | 1,867 | 3.2 |
| 2022 | 3 | 1,166 | 2.6 |
| 2023 | 1 | 1,000 | 1.0 |
| 2024 | 2 | 1,237 | 1.6 |
| 2025 | 6 | 1,019 | 5.9 |
| 2026 (so far) | 13 | 840 | 15.5 |
Posts in the forum threads we archived, 26,806 in all, counted per year. A mention means the post names the treatment, not that the writer took it. These threads all contain a recovery story, so they show what those communities discussed, not everyone with ME/CFS or long COVID. All trends
All 57 accounts
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2025: the year I recovered from long COVID
Credits brain retraining, CBT or psychological work and pacing. Amy was ill 5y with severe long COVID and is described as almost fully recovered. Went from 75% to 95% recovered via a coaching program.
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William Groves' Recovery Story
Followed the Gupta Program (joined 2023), read Dan Neuffer's book "CFS Unravelled" and Joseph Murphy's "The Power of the Unconscious Mind," got nutrition counseling through the Optimum Health Clinic, and combined this with pacing, meditation, self-hypnosis,…
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Karen Wright's Story
Karen started with a low-histamine diet that brought overnight improvement, then moved to a broader anti-inflammatory diet, alongside pacing, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy through the NHS Long COVID service, breathwork, meditation, yoga, counselling and…
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Russ Seigenberg's Recovery Story
Used self-directed pacing, graduated aerobic exercise (walk/jog intervals), diet changes, meditation, yoga and faith rather than any named program or drug. He crashed with post-viral fatigue/ME/CFS at 25 after a bout of mono/EBV, at his worst spending much…
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This Is How I Recovered From Long Covid
Credits the Lightning Process and CBT or psychological work. Gill Deacon was ill 20mo with severe long COVID and is described as fully recovered. Promotes a $1,900 Lightning Process workshop by name.
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Mollie's ME/CFS and POTS Recovery Success with ANS REWIRE
Credits brain retraining and trauma and somatic work. Mollie was ill 5y with severe ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Same story as the cfsunravelled family-psychotherapy post.
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Six Years Healthy - CFS Free
Credits CBT or psychological work, pacing and CFS Health program. Susie was ill 4.5y with severe ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Six years healthy and counting.
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I Finally Found Answers and Turned ME/CFS Around - Jeff's Story
Credits CBT or psychological work and mind body. Jeff was ill 7y with ME/CFS and reports a substantial improvement. Cites Sarno's Divided Mind, Optimum Health Clinic.
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ME/CFS Recovery Story: How Pacing and CBT Led to Lynne's Success
Credits pacing and CBT or psychological work. Lynne was ill 6y with severe ME/CFS and reports a substantial improvement. Quit online ME forums; took a cruise post-recovery.
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How I Held On to Hope During Recovery Pt 1
Credits CBT or psychological work. Nicole had long COVID and is described as fully recovered. Psychological strategies used during recovery.
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Losing a whole year - my Long COVID story
D.C. Elton tried a series of psychiatric medications for sleep and mood — Lexapro starting at 1 mg, trazodone escalated from 10 mg to 150 mg nightly (ineffective at any dose), sublingual Ambien, Remeron 10-15 mg (caused daytime sedation), and Wellbutrin 75…
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Overcoming CFS Relapses: Rebuilding and Shifting Perspectives
Credits the Lightning Process, mickel therapy and CBT or psychological work. Katy was ill 10y with severe ME/CFS and reports a substantial improvement. Says recovery is not permanent without maintained habits.
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My long covid recovery recap: the timeline and tools
Ariel Conn's recovery centered on mind-body approaches: Claritin as one of only two things that helped in her first 18 months, then somatic meditations, Nicole Sachs' JournalSpeak journaling method starting December 2021, somatic and Internal Family Systems…
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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: My 13 Year Crash to Cure Story
Credits trauma and somatic work, CBT or psychological work and somatic tracking. Rebecca was ill 13y with severe ME/CFS and reports a substantial improvement. Broadcast journalist; Sarno/TMS work; now sells coaching.
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My ME/CFS Recovery, Part II: GET, CBT, and Brain Retraining
Credits graded exercise, CBT or psychological work and brain retraining. Jay was ill 10y with moderate ME/CFS and is described as almost fully recovered. GET worsened him; DNRS gave temporary gains; ~90% recovered.
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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: one woman's story of recovery
Credits CBT or psychological work, diet, somatic and breathwork. Anaya was ill 2.5y with severe ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Mindset shift and somatic breathwork; ran 42km ultra days later.
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CFS recovery success stories on YouTube
Credits CBT or psychological work and somatic tracking. Nick had ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Sarno-style mind-body case; forum doubted the diagnosis.
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Robyn Dale
Robyn's treatment combined short courses of propranolol, zopiclone and diazepam early on with medium-term amitriptyline for insomnia, mood and muscle spasms, alongside daily walking, yoga, meditation and graded activity. She crashed severely in December 2021…
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Robyn Dale
Robyn was prescribed short-term propranolol for heart arrhythmia and palpitations, at doses that were increased despite her objections, short-term zopiclone and diazepam to help her rest, and medium-term amitriptyline for insomnia, mood, and to stop cluster…
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Instead of feeling guilty and tired out, I feel confident to live my life – I know how to manage my emotions better
Took an online Lightning Process course in November 2021, after a hospital ME/CFS clinic attended for "a couple of years," an unnamed alternative therapy and counselling had not produced a breakthrough. She had cycled through "crash and burn" episodes of…
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Eight years of sickness is history. My son once again has a mother, my husband has a wife, and I've got a life!
Lotte attended a three-day Lightning Process course with practitioner Live Landmark, learning "basic neurology and about the functioning of the brain" and using the method several times a day, after eight years of ME/CFS requiring 12-18 hours of rest daily…
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Explaining Paul Garner's Long COVID Recovery Story
Credits CBT or psychological work, brain retraining and time alone. Paul Garner was ill 10mo with severe long COVID and is described as almost fully recovered. Critics call the timing coincidental, not the technique.
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CBT for CFS: Luke Shares His Experience and Recovery
Luke combined self-directed CBT (working through his own negative thought patterns rather than with a therapist) with a methylation protocol developed by Rich Von Konynenburg (B vitamins plus folic acid), guidance from two books -- Kristina Downing-Orr's…
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Recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: One Person's Story
Credits pacing, CBT or psychological work and energy envelope. Bruce was ill 4y with severe ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Psychologist; energy-envelope pacing; 20+ years sustained.
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Never, never give up hope that you can make progress towards your goal of recovery
Credits the Lightning Process, which he took in 2005 after eight years of illness and many prior approaches including acupuncture, juicing, meditation and yoga, nutritionist-prescribed supplements, herbal medicine, naturopathy, Chinese herbs, functional…
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Sirin Gnadeberg Shares How She Cured Her ME/CFS and POTS
Sirin Gnadeberg added salt to her drinking water starting in April 2016, which significantly improved her POTS symptoms, then took 16 weeks of antibiotics after a Lyme specialist found elevated antibodies to Bartonella, Chlamydia and Mycoplasma (despite…
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Alison T's Recovery Story
Credits CBT or psychological work. Alison was ill 20y with severe ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Type 1 diabetic; diabetes also improved alongside recovery.
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My journey into ME
The author, who had years of prior psychotherapy, did a Lightning Process course, which she credits with teaching her to "reprogram" the brain structures behind her illness. She traces her severe ME to a childhood marked by her mother's untreated psychiatric…
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I tricked my body into believing I would get well
She had weekly cognitive therapy and mindfulness sessions with psychologist Carina Poulsen, alongside a self-directed graded walking-then-jogging program, nightly gratitude journaling and sessions with a psychomotor physiotherapist. She had been ill for…
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Full recovery - is it possible???
Credits undisclosed. femtosecond99 had ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Claims recovery with no drugs/supplements/CBT, withholds method.
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Frances Recovery Story
Credits CBT or psychological work and trauma and somatic work. Frances was ill 4y with ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Describes recovery as a spiritual and personal development journey.
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I just "graduated" from a GET/CBT therapy at the Mayo Clinic. Ask me anything!
Completed a 3-week, daily 8am-5pm CBT/GET program at the Mayo Clinic combining graded light resistance work, aerobic pacing and forced sensory exposure. Came out able to walk again and "moderately prepared" to think about returning to work, crediting part of…
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Taking back control
Credits pacing and CBT or psychological work. Diane was ill 18y with moderate ME/CFS and reports a partial improvement. Self-management course shifted mindset more than symptoms.
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Iron Man: How One Young Person Recovered From POTS / ME/CFS
Jack Schlanger fell severely ill with POTS and ME/CFS-like symptoms at 13 after an infection, unable to attend school full-time with near-constant stomach pain and exercise intolerance. Diagnosed with iron deficiency contributing to his POTS, he was treated…
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9 Years With ME - Finally Transformed Against All Odds
Credits pacing, diet, CBT or psychological work and sleep hygiene. James was ill 9y with severe ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Multilateral lifestyle overhaul: sleep, diet, posture, mindset.
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Katie Shares How She Broke the MECFS Relapse Cycle
Credits CBT or psychological work, diet and trauma and somatic work. Katie was ill 8y with moderate ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Mindset shift, dropped perfectionism, protein-focused diet.
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Yoga Slowly Coaxes Fiona Back to Health
Fiona, a PR executive, developed ME/CFS in the early 1990s after stress, poor diet and flu, and by 1992 was wheelchair-bound, too tired to hold a conversation and having panic attacks. Gentle yoga focused on relaxation and breathing, meditation and a…
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Multidimensional program is the ticket for Michelle
Tai chi and qigong practice, described as vital for immune function, balance and heart functioning, was one element of a long-term multidimensional program that also included an elimination diet (no dairy, most grains, fermented foods, alcohol, MSG, sugar or…
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Mickel Therapy Turns the Corner for Experienced Mind/Body Practitioner
Susie, herself a trained mind-body practitioner, became severely ill in 1991 with energy near zero plus severe pain, having already tried homeopathy, visualisation, acupuncture and CBT without success. About 24 years later she credits Mickel Therapy, built…
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Is Lyme Disease Curable? Katina Makris' Story
Credits CBT or psychological work and mentor mindset. Katina was ill 10y with severe ME/CFS and reports a substantial improvement. Chronic Lyme plus fibromyalgia; mindset shift.
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Tips and techniques of how I completely recovered from CFS / ME!
Credits pacing, graded exercise and CBT or psychological work. Emily was ill 2y with severe ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Full-time gym plus strict pacing; called it mind-over-matter.
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Dr. Patricia Williams's Client Story
Credits brain retraining, CBT or psychological work and diet. Patricia was ill 15y with severe ME/CFS and reports a substantial improvement. Severe cognitive impairment; no longer housebound.
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Individual quotes
CBT and graded exercise therapy, delivered under what he calls a false-illness-beliefs model, are credited by a physician with worsening rather than helping his ME. He had been ill for more than a decade when a major relapse, which he attributes to GET…
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Karen Burns's Client Story
Credits brain retraining, CBT or psychological work and diet. Karen was ill 14y with moderate ME/CFS and reports a substantial improvement. Cyclic flu-like crashes since 2005; now cycles 800km+.
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Louise's Client Story
Credits brain retraining, CBT or psychological work and diet. Louise had severe ME/CFS and reports a substantial improvement. Couldn't climb stairs or play with her kids.
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Bradley's Client Story
Credits brain retraining, CBT or psychological work and diet. Bradley had ME/CFS and reports a substantial improvement. Condition stated only as fatigue; video-centric page.
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Alison's Client Story
Credits brain retraining, CBT or psychological work and diet. Alison had severe ME/CFS and reports a substantial improvement. Post-viral CFS, unable to work; life turned around.
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Bethany's Client Story
Credits brain retraining, CBT or psychological work and diet. Bethany had severe long COVID and reports a substantial improvement. Mild COVID became debilitating post-COVID fatigue and spasms.
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Maya's Story
She recovered through functional medicine (addressing mold exposure, liver toxicity and nutrient depletion), psychotherapy, physiotherapy, and a daily body-scan meditation practiced three times a day, later training as a Functional Medicine Certified Health…
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Overcoming ME - My Path to Recovery and Regaining My Life
Credits brain retraining, trauma and somatic work and CBT or psychological work. Sue was ill 18y with moderate ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. 18y including remission gap; psychotherapy plus ANS REWIRE.
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Lynn Shares Her Thoughts on How to Recover from Fibromyalgia
Credits CBT or psychological work, diet, graded exercise and meditation. Lynn had severe ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Hit rock bottom first; 3-5hr daily meditation.
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Alex Howard of OHC Discusses His Experience
Credits CBT or psychological work and ANS approach. Alex had ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Optimum Health Clinic founder's own account.
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How Recovery from ME/CFS and POTS Was Enabled by Family Psychotherapy
Credits brain retraining and trauma and somatic work. Mollie was ill 5y with severe ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Husband's account; IFS family therapy plus ANS REWIRE.
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The Lightning Process - His Last-Ditch Effort for M.E.
Simon's recovery centered on the Lightning Process, alongside earlier CBT and a general multivitamin, mineral and vitamin C regimen; beyond noting it teaches relaxation techniques and is more than self-hypnosis, the page gives no detail on the Lightning…
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A Long-Term M.E. Recoverer Shares His Journey
Credits CBT or psychological work and mind body. Tim was ill 5y with ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. Stayed well over a decade; stress-mindset focused account.
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There Is No Cure for Fibromyalgia? Interview on Recovery from MCS/CFS/FMS
Evelyn's recovery involved meditation, vitamins, saunas, daily walks, and weekly massage with exfoliation for "toxin" removal, plus diet changes, though the page does not give specific supplement names, doses, or sauna type. She had suffered for years with…
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Jake Hollis - The Fatigue Psychologist
Credits CBT or psychological work and trauma and somatic work. Jake Hollis had ME/CFS and is described as fully recovered. S4ME calls it survivorship bias.