The relationship between disease severity and defense mechanisms in fibromyalgia syndrome

Berk, Ejder; Baykara, Sema

doi:10.5606/tftrd.2020.3331

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…FM, which has a complex nature and has difficulties in its treatment, is one of the main causes of chronic musculoskeletal pain, especially in women aged 20-55 years [3]. The average age of the current study FM patients was consistent with many studies [30,31]. The groups differed in terms of psychiatric diagnosis as the FM patients had received more psychiatric treatment than the control group.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Childhood trauma and dissociation in female patients with fibromyalgia

Combas¹,

Öztürk²,

Derin³

2022

Med-Science

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Fibromyalgia is a functional pain syndrome manifested by psychological symptoms such as dissociative symptoms, which are closely related to childhood trauma. The purpose of this research was to compare female fibromyalgia patients and healthy females and to investigate the prevalence of childhood trauma and dissociative symptoms. The study included 51 patients followed up with the diagnosis of fibromyalgia in the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic of Bezmialem Vakıf University, and a control group of 51 healthy females with identical sociodemographic characteristics. All the participants were aged 18-69 years, and free of pain conditions and other vital medical or psychiatric disorders. Evaluations were made using a sociodemographic form, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Childhood Abuse and Neglect Question Form, Dissociative Experiences Scale and Visual Analogue Scale. One of the main findings was that 88.2% of fibromyalgia patients had experienced childhood trauma. The fibromyalgia patients stated a higher prevalence of childhood trauma than the control group (p=.05). With the exception of emotional neglect, the fibromyalgia patients scored higher than the control group in the other four sub-dimensions of Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. The Visual Analogue Scale pain score was found to be associated with overall childhood trauma, all sub-dimensions of childhood trauma and dissociative experiences. Dissociative experiences was the only predictor of pain. Based on the findings of this study, trauma-related dissociative experiences may be of critical importance in the onset of fibromyalgia. These findings emphasize the importance of preventing childhood traumas.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Childhood trauma and dissociation in female patients with fibromyalgia

Combas¹,

Öztürk²,

Derin³

2022

Med-Science

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“…In spite of the high prevalence of psychological distress reported by FM patients [ 3 , 4 ], only a small number of studies have investigated the role of defense mechanisms in the development and maintenance of psychological distress in FM patients [ 23 , 24 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personality, Defense Mechanisms and Psychological Distress in Women with Fibromyalgia

Romeo

Benfante

Geminiani

et al. 2022

Behavioral Sciences

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Background: Previous studies have shown that many personality traits are associated with fibromyalgia (FM), worsening both the quality of life and psychological distress of patients. Despite the high comorbidity of psychopathological disorders in this syndrome and their association with immature defense styles, few studies have examined the defense mechanisms used by FM patients. The main aim of our study was to investigate personality traits and defense mechanisms in FM patients compared to in a healthy control group (HC). Moreover, we investigated the effect of personality traits and defense mechanisms on psychological distress in both FM and HC groups. Methods: A total of 54 women with FM and 54 healthy women completed the (1) Temperament and Character Inventory—Revised; (2) the Toronto Alexithymia Scale; (3) the Defense Style Questionnaire; and (4) the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Results: The results indicated that FM patients display higher alexithymia, higher harm avoidance, lower self-directedness, lower persistence, and the higher use of a maladaptive defense style compared to HC. We found that alexithymia, harm avoidance, and maladaptive defense style are significant predictors of patients’ psychological distress. Moreover, harm avoidance and adaptive defense style significantly predicted psychological distress in the HC group. Conclusion: The present study is the first to explore the contribution of both defense mechanisms and personality characteristics on the psychological distress of FM patients. Our findings have important clinical implications and may help diagnose and treat FM patients more in depth.

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“…Numerous factors are implicated in the occurrence and progression of FMS, including genetic, environmental, and nutritional factors, viral infections, stress, and neuroendocrine anomalies. The physiopathology still remains incompletely understood; however, it is believed that sympathetic dysfunction, neuroendocrine anomalies, and psychogenic factors contribute to FMS by altering pain perception and threshold in the muscle tissue (5,6) . Moreover, neuroimaging studies have detected hypoperfusion in the thalamus and caudate nucleus of patients with FMS (7)(8)(9) , suggesting optic nerve involvement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%