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" Teenagers with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) may benefit from taking part in web-based therapy, new research suggests. Scientists at the University Medical Centre Utrecht in The Netherlands studied 135 adolescents, all of whom had been living with CFS for almost two years. Of these, 67 received usual care, while the remaining 68 took part in the Fatigue in Teenagers on the interNET (FITNET) programme - a web-based cognitive behavioural therapy programme. The researchers found that the web-based programme was substantially more effective at reducing CFS symptoms than standard care, which typically consisted of individual and group cognitive behavioural therapy or exercise therapy. After six months of therapy, 63 per cent of teenagers in the FITNET group reported they had recovered - an almost eight-fold improvement over standard care. Publishing their findings in the Lancet medical journal, the study authors pointed out that web-based therapy &amp;#039;is available at any time, avoids face-to-face treatment barriers (ie, treatment delay due to poor accessibility, inconvenience of scheduling appointments, missing school or work, travelling to or from a clinician&amp;#039;s office), and reduces treatment time and costs&amp;#039;. Writing in an accompanying comment, experts from Queen Mary University of London and King&amp;#039;s College London praised the researchers for &amp;#039;testing a way to deliver an already effective treatment more efficiently&amp;#039;. NHS figures suggest that around 250,000 people in the UK have CFS, which tends to develop when a person is in their early 20s to mid-40s. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-living/news/a22139/internet-based-therapy-may-help-young-people-with-chronic-fatigue-syndrome/>