[Symptom checklists in patients with chronic pain].
Symptom checklists, in particular the SCL-90-R, are widely used in screening for psychological distress in patients with chronic pain. A detailed analysis reveals that this may lead to wrong diagnoses in many cases. The problem of using the SCL-90-R in patients with chronic pain is (a) that scale means are elevated due to items asking for pain-associated symptoms and (b) that there is a lack of specificity of the various dimensions of the SCL-90-R. Numerous short forms of the SCL-90-R are compared to the original one and analysed with respect to their applicability in patients with chronic pain. Other screening questionnaires not related to the SCL-90-R were analysed for the same purpose. As a result, the SCL-27, K9, HADS and PHQ are judged to be applicable for screening in patients with chronic pain.
Hardt
J
J
Klinik für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie, Universitätsklinikum, Mainz, Deutschland. hardt@mail.uni-mainz.de
Brähler
E
E
D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires