Disclosing fibromyalgia psychological profile: the connection between body and mind

Fibromyalgia is a clinical condition still understudied that presents a clear connection with certain psychological features, in terms of personality traits, behaviors, and clinical symptoms. By analyzing a survey that was conducted by the Center of Psychology and Functional Psychotherapy (i.e., Centro di Psicologia e Psicoterapia Funzionale) with 76 female patients in 2021, the aim of the present study was to disclose the psychological profile of fibromyalgia and to better understand the psychological features of a typical sufferer of this syndrome. In detail, 8 different psychological aspects were assessed: anxiety, depression, psychosis, touch avoidance, positive affect, quality of life, self- criticism, and pain acceptance, through 8 specific scales translated and validated to Italian. We compared our sample means with normative data means and examined possible correlations between the features. The results point out that the fibromyalgia psychological profile is composed by high anxiety trait levels, mild to moderate levels of depression, a risk of developing psychotic disorders, medium levels of touch avoidance, elevated feelings of compassion towards others, a medium to high negative impact on quality of life, inflated self-hate criticism, and a lack of pain acceptance characterized mainly by pain unwillingness. The practical use of the fibromyalgia psychological profile and its relevance are reported and discussed.