Stressful Life Events and Psychosomatic Symptoms in Fibromyalgia Syndrome and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Ada Ghiggia, Valentina Tesio (), Fabrizio Colonna, Enrico Fusaro, Giuliano Carlo Geminiani and Lorys Castelli
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Ada Ghiggia: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, 34128 Trieste, Italy
Valentina Tesio: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10124 Turin, Italy
Fabrizio Colonna: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10124 Turin, Italy
Enrico Fusaro: Rheumatology Unit, “Città Della Salute e Della Scienza” Hospital of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy
Giuliano Carlo Geminiani: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10124 Turin, Italy
Lorys Castelli: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10124 Turin, Italy

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 3, 1-13

Abstract: Objective: The study analyzed the role of traumatic experiences and psychosomatic components as potential predictors of the likelihood of chronic pain patients having or not having fibromyalgia. Methods: We examined the role of stressful life events (Traumatic Experiences Checklist), psychosomatic syndromes (Toronto Alexithymia Scale and Diagnostic Criteria for Psychosomatic Research), pain, and psychological distress (Beck Depression Inventory—II and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) in 104 patients with fibromyalgia compared with a sample of 104 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Results: Patients with fibromyalgia reported significantly more traumatic events, a higher prevalence of psychosomatic syndromes, and higher levels of pain, anxiety and depressive symptoms compared with patients with rheumatoid arthritis (all p < 0.01). Hierarchical binary logistic regression with group membership as the dependent variable showed that somatization syndromes (OR = 3.67), pain (OR = 1.56), and childhood trauma (OR = 1.11) were statistically significant predictors of group belonging, and the model explained 67% of the variance in diagnosis [χ 2 (9) = 143.66, p < 0.001]. Conclusion: These results highlighted that patients with fibromyalgia are characterized primarily by marked somatization and a high prevalence of early stressful life events compared with patients with rheumatoid arthritis, a primarily nociceptive chronic pain condition. A better knowledge of these mechanisms could allow clinicians to develop tailored interventions that take greater account of the psychological dimension of the disease.

Keywords: chronic pain; fibromyalgia; rheumatoid arthritis; psychosomatic syndromes; traumatic life events (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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