FIBROMYALGIC SYNDROME - DEPRESSION AND ABNORMAL ILLNESS BEHAVIOR MULTICENTER INVESTIGATION - MULTICENTER INVESTIGATION

This study reports psychological symptoms assessed in 327 patients wit h fibromyalgia (FS) in a multicenter investigation. Two self-report sc ales, in their validated Italian translations, were used for screening : the CES-D (the Center of Epidemiologic Studies-Depression) developed at the NIMH for measuring depression and the Illness Behavior Questio nnaire (IBQ) developed by Pilowsky and Spence. The cutoff point of 23 in the CES-D scores revealed about 49% of the fibromyalgic patients as depressed. In analyzing patterns of illness behavior patients with FS showed a high score on IBQ scales of disease conviction, psychologica l versus somatic focusing and denial. CES-D scores showed significant correlations with illness behavior scales. These results and their imp lications for the treatment of fibromyalgic patients are discussed.