1,721,194 research outputs found
Attachment Style and Chronic Pain: Toward an Interpersonal Model of Pain
Full text linkChronic pain (CP) is a burdensome symptom. Different psychological models have been proposed to explain the role of psychological and social factors in developing and maintaining CP. Attachment, for example, is a psychological construct of possible relevance in CP. The first studies on the role of attachment in CP did not investigate the partner's psychological factors, thus neglecting the influence of the latter. The main aim of this mini-review was to examine the more recent literature investigating the relationship between CP and attachment style. In particular, whether or not more recent studies assessed the psychological variables of a patient's partner. The articles were selected from the Medline/PubMed database using the search terms "attachment" AND "pain"; "CP" AND "attachment style," which led to nine papers being identified. The results showed that, even though the key point was still the hypothesis that an insecure attachment style is associated with CP, in recent years researchers have focused on the possible psychological aspects mediating between attachment style and CP. In particular, worrying, coping strategies, catastrophizing and perceived spouse responses to pain behavior were taken into account. Only one study considered the role of the reciprocal influence of attachment style of both patient and partner, underlining the role of real significant others' responses to pain behaviors. In conclusion, the results of the present mini-review highlight how in recent years researchers have moved toward investigating those psychological aspects that could mediate the relationship between attachment and CP, while only partially evaluating the interpersonal perspective
Traumatic experiences and somatoform dissociation in women with fibromyalgia
Full text linkObjective: Psychological factors like traumatic life events seem to affect the etiopathogenesis and the exacerbation of fibromyalgia (FM), a chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain syndrome. This Study investigated the prevalence of traumatic events, with a particular attention to the whole life span, and both psychoform and somatoform dissociation in patients with FM, compared with healthy controls (HC). In addition, the possible effects of traumatic events and dissociative experiences on FM symptoms have been analyzed. Method: Traumatic experiences, dissociative symptoms, and psychological distress were assessed in 99 consecutive patients with FM and 107 healthy women. Student t-tests for two independent samples were used to determine differences between the FM and HC groups. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to explore the possible contribution of trauma and dissociation to FM symptoms. Results: Results revealed that the levels of both somatoform and psychoform dissociation were higher among patients with FM than HC (p < .001). Moreover, patients with FM experienced significantly more negative life events than HC (p < .001). Finally, the data suggested that the severity of FM disabilities was significantly predicted by the presence of depressive symptoms, somatoform dissociation, cumulative trauma, and educational level. The final Model explained 40% of the variance. Conclusions: Results suggest that the construct of somatoform dissociation could serve as a useful framework to improve our understanding of FM symptoms, and stressed the importance of evaluating the effects of multiple traumas in cumulative form because this has substantial implications for the evaluation and treatment of patients. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)
Post-traumatic growth, distress and attachment style among women with breast cancer
Full text linkIdentifying factors fostering post-traumatic growth (PTG) is very
important to promote PTG itself through specific psychological
interventions. To this end, we investigated PTG and its relationship
with clinical and psychological variables in a sample of 108 female
breast cancer survivors. Results showed that women with higher
depressive symptoms presented lower levels of PTG than women
without. Moreover, women who had undergone combined
treatment presented higher levels of PTG than women who had not.
The results highlighted the resulting importance of psychological
intervention focusing on depressive symptoms, which negatively
interfere with the patients’ psychological growth
Alexithymia and psychological distress in fibromyalgia and chronic migraine: A cross-sectional study
Full text linkObjective: Several studies have shown a strong association between alexithymia and psychological distress in both healthy and clinical populations. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and association between alexithymia and psychological distress in individuals with fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic migraine (CM) compared with healthy controls (HC).Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. Two hundred fifty women with FM (age: 51.2 +/- 10.5) and 250 women with CM (age: 46.1 +/- 11.5) were assessed with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and compared with HCs (n = 280; age: 51.8 +/- 9.0) by one-way analyses of variance. A moderation analysis was performed to examine the moderation effect of groups on the relationship between alexithymia and psychological distress.Results: Differences between groups showed significantly higher scores for TAS-20 [F(2,755) = 11.7, p < .001] and HADS [F(2,763) = 31.7, p < .001] in FM, compared with CM and HCs. The moderation analysis showed that both clinical groups and TAS-20 (beta = 0.20, p < .001) were significant predictors, as well as the interaction terms. The slope of the correlation curve was more pronounced in the patient groups, indicating that the degree of alexithymia had a significantly higher influence on the HADS total score in the patient groups.Conclusion: The results suggest a common psychological dysregulation in FM and CM, with a slight but greater prevalence of alexithymia and psychological distress in FM. These data suggest that although there is a similar psychological substrate, it is expressed in a different expression of somatic symptoms
Diagnostic Criteria for Psychosomatic Research: uno studio pilota sulla sindrome fibromialgica
No full textPain experience in Fibromyalgia Syndrome: The role of alexithymia and psychological distress
Full text linkBACKGROUND:
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain syndrome with a high prevalence of alexithymia, a personality disposition that affects emotional self-awareness. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and pain, differentiating between the sensory and affective components of pain experience, in a sample of FM patients.
METHODS:
One hundred and fifty-nine FM patients completed a battery of tests assessing pain experience, pain intensity, alexithymia and psychological distress. In order to characterize the clinical profile of alexithymic FM patients, alexithymic and non-alexithymic groups were compared on the different measures. Two regression analyses were performed on the total sample, in order to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and pain, controlling for psychological distress.
RESULTS:
Alexithymic FM patients presented higher scores on all the clinical measures compared to non-alexithymic ones. Positive correlations were found between alexithymia and the affective, but not the sensory, dimension of pain experience variables. Regression analyses showed that alexithymia (difficulty identifying feelings factor) ceased to uniquely predict affective pain, after controlling for psychological distress, particularly anxiety. In addition, none of the alexithymia variables significantly explained pain intensity variance. Finally, a significant effect of anxiety in mediating the relationship between alexithymia and affective pain was found.
LIMITATIONS:
No longitudinal data were included.
CONCLUSIONS:
These findings show the presence of higher levels of pain and psychological distress in alexithymic vs. non-alexithymic FM patients, and a relevant association between alexithymia and the affective dimension of pain experience. Specifically, this relationship appears to be significantly mediated by anxiety
Trajectory and predictors of psychological distress and posttraumatic growth among rectal cancer patients undergoing combined modality treatment: An exploratory prospective study
No full textObjective: This exploratory prospective cohort study aimed to investigate the trajectory of psychological distress and posttraumatic growth (PTG) in rectal cancer patients from diagnosis to follow-up and to explore factors that could predict PTG and psychological distress at follow-up. Method: We assessed psychological distress (anxiety and depression), PTG, physical symptoms, quality of life, cancer-related coping, state and trait affectivity, resilience, and alexithymia in 43 rectal cancer patients, M (SD) age: 61.6 (12.6); 67.4% men, after diagnosis (T0), after preoperative radiochemotherapy (T1), after surgical resection (T2), and 1 year after surgery (T3, follow-up). Results: Psychological distress, especially anxiety symptoms, showed a significant reduction between T0 and T1 (p <.001), which increased again between T1 and T2 (p =.048). PTG showed a progressive increase, with a significant increase between T2 and T3 (p <.001). The exploratory hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that low positive state affectivity (p =.005) and high health anxiety (p =.007) at T1 and high negative state affectivity (p =.012) at T3 were significant predictors of psychological distress at follow-up. Higher levels of PTG at T1 (p <.001) and greater use of adaptive coping styles of Fighting Spirit at T0 (p =.009) and Fatalism at T1 (p =.031) were significant predictors of PTG at follow-up. Conclusions: The (fluctuating and linear, respectively) trajectories of psychological distress and PTG seem to be related to the psychological reactions to the different treatment phases, especially diagnosis and preoperative treatment. Data suggest the need to implement psychological screening and tailored support programs aimed at fostering PTG and reducing psychological distress from the earliest phases of cancer treatment
Stressful Life Events and Psychosomatic Symptoms in Fibromyalgia Syndrome and Rheumatoid Arthritis
Full text linkObjective: The study analyzed the role of traumatic experiences and psychosomatic components as potential predictors of the likelihood of chronic pain patients having or not having fibromyalgia. Methods: We examined the role of stressful life events (Traumatic Experiences Checklist), psychosomatic syndromes (Toronto Alexithymia Scale and Diagnostic Criteria for Psychosomatic Research), pain, and psychological distress (Beck Depression Inventory—II and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) in 104 patients with fibromyalgia compared with a sample of 104 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Results: Patients with fibromyalgia reported significantly more traumatic events, a higher prevalence of psychosomatic syndromes, and higher levels of pain, anxiety and depressive symptoms compared with patients with rheumatoid arthritis (all p < 0.01). Hierarchical binary logistic regression with group membership as the dependent variable showed that somatization syndromes (OR = 3.67), pain (OR = 1.56), and childhood trauma (OR = 1.11) were statistically significant predictors of group belonging, and the model explained 67% of the variance in diagnosis [χ2(9) = 143.66, p < 0.001]. Conclusion: These results highlighted that patients with fibromyalgia are characterized primarily by marked somatization and a high prevalence of early stressful life events compared with patients with rheumatoid arthritis, a primarily nociceptive chronic pain condition. A better knowledge of these mechanisms could allow clinicians to develop tailored interventions that take greater account of the psychological dimension of the disease
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