Psychotherapy for Physical Pain in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review

Objective. To provide a brief and comprehensive summary of the recent evidence from clinical trials testing psychotherapeutic interventions in patients with fibromyalgia with particular interest in their possible effect on physical pain. Methods. Bibliographical search was performed in PubMed, PsycI...

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Main Authors: Lizzette Gómez-de-Regil, Damaris F. Estrella-Castillo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2020-01-01
Series:Pain Research and Management
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/3408052
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author Lizzette Gómez-de-Regil
Damaris F. Estrella-Castillo
author_facet Lizzette Gómez-de-Regil
Damaris F. Estrella-Castillo
author_sort Lizzette Gómez-de-Regil
collection DOAJ
description Objective. To provide a brief and comprehensive summary of the recent evidence from clinical trials testing psychotherapeutic interventions in patients with fibromyalgia with particular interest in their possible effect on physical pain. Methods. Bibliographical search was performed in PubMed, PsycInfo, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane Library databases. Content of the manuscripts was studied to obtain, if available, the following information: year of publication, location of the research team, design, type of psychotherapeutic intervention tested, pain measures, and a brief description of the psychotherapy, groups, and outcomes regarding physical pain. Results. Initial search eliciting 475 citations got reduced to 13 relevant papers. Most research studies from Spain (n = 8) are randomized control trials (n = 10) and used guided imagery (n = 5) or cognitive behavioral therapy (n = 4). The Visual Analogue Scale (n = 4) and the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (n = 4) were the physical pain measures mostly used. Improvements on physical pain were reported on all studies with published results; nevertheless, only in five cases, differences were significant. Conclusions. Evidence on the effect of psychotherapy on physical pain in patients with FS was divergent; though most studies report a reduction in pain, this was not always lasting and/or significant. Diversity of the results might be due to the selected psychotherapeutic approaches, assessment tools, and other internal (e.g., personality traits, (sub)clinical psychiatric symptoms, and treatment adherence) and external (e.g., family environment and social support) variables worth to be considered in the future research.
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spelling doaj-art-aac0490ae375462cbe5265fab0292ce82025-08-20T03:39:40ZengWileyPain Research and Management1203-67651918-15232020-01-01202010.1155/2020/34080523408052Psychotherapy for Physical Pain in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Systematic ReviewLizzette Gómez-de-Regil0Damaris F. Estrella-Castillo1Hospital Regional de Alta Especialidad de la Península de Yucatán, Calle 7 No. 433 por 20 y 22, Fraccionamiento Altabrisa, Mérida 97130, Yucatán, MexicoUniversidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Facultad de Medicina, Licenciatura en Rehabilitación, Avenida Itzáes No. 498 x 59 y 59A, Colonia Centro, Mérida 97000, Yucatán, MexicoObjective. To provide a brief and comprehensive summary of the recent evidence from clinical trials testing psychotherapeutic interventions in patients with fibromyalgia with particular interest in their possible effect on physical pain. Methods. Bibliographical search was performed in PubMed, PsycInfo, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane Library databases. Content of the manuscripts was studied to obtain, if available, the following information: year of publication, location of the research team, design, type of psychotherapeutic intervention tested, pain measures, and a brief description of the psychotherapy, groups, and outcomes regarding physical pain. Results. Initial search eliciting 475 citations got reduced to 13 relevant papers. Most research studies from Spain (n = 8) are randomized control trials (n = 10) and used guided imagery (n = 5) or cognitive behavioral therapy (n = 4). The Visual Analogue Scale (n = 4) and the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (n = 4) were the physical pain measures mostly used. Improvements on physical pain were reported on all studies with published results; nevertheless, only in five cases, differences were significant. Conclusions. Evidence on the effect of psychotherapy on physical pain in patients with FS was divergent; though most studies report a reduction in pain, this was not always lasting and/or significant. Diversity of the results might be due to the selected psychotherapeutic approaches, assessment tools, and other internal (e.g., personality traits, (sub)clinical psychiatric symptoms, and treatment adherence) and external (e.g., family environment and social support) variables worth to be considered in the future research.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/3408052
spellingShingle Lizzette Gómez-de-Regil
Damaris F. Estrella-Castillo
Psychotherapy for Physical Pain in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review
Pain Research and Management
title Psychotherapy for Physical Pain in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review
title_full Psychotherapy for Physical Pain in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review
title_fullStr Psychotherapy for Physical Pain in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review
title_full_unstemmed Psychotherapy for Physical Pain in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review
title_short Psychotherapy for Physical Pain in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review
title_sort psychotherapy for physical pain in patients with fibromyalgia a systematic review
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/3408052
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