Psychological factors associated with primary fibromyalgia syndrome.
Forty-five ambulatory patients with primary fibromyalgia syndrome (PFS), 30 with rheumatoid arthritis, and 32 normal controls were administered 3 psychological tests: the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the Life Events Inventory, and the Assertiveness-Aggressiveness Inventory. The PFS patients scored significantly higher on 8 MMPI scales when compared with the normal control group and on 4 MMPI scales when compared with the rheumatoid arthritis group. Further subgrouping of PFS patients according to MMPI scores showed that only 31% were "psychologically disturbed," 33% had a typical chronic pain profile, and 36% were within the normal range. The PFS patients scored higher than the rheumatoid arthritis and normal control groups on the Life Events Inventory but not the Assertiveness-Aggressiveness Inventory.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000523:psychology; D001242:Assertiveness; D005260:Female; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008950:MMPI; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients; D010555:Personality Inventory; D013577:Syndrome