What are the psychological problems associated with fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is a medical condition that affects thousands of people, causing a series of pain to the people who suffer it.

However, although we usually focus on the physical symptoms, we must not also forget the psychological problems that this disease can trigger. Therefore, in this article we will review some of the most common psychological sequelae of fibromyalgia, according to studies carried out in this regard.

• Related article: "The 15 most common neurological disorders"

What is fibromyalgia?

In order to talk about the possible psychological problems associated with fibromyalgia, we first need to know more about the problem itself. fibromyalgia disease, knowing what it consists of and what is the most frequent symptomatology in those people who suffer from this disease.

Fibromyalgia is a pathology whose main characteristic is the musculoskeletal pain of patients, being able to be located in very diverse areas of the body, ranging from the chest and back to the arms or the legs. The stimuli in the affected parts are perceived as much more painful than usual. Subjects may also experience extreme fatigue and not rest when they sleep.

The main problem with fibromyalgia is that the factors that cause it are not fully understood. A few decades ago, this disease was considered to be of a somatic type, but this conception changed, and in fact for the WHO it has been considered a physical disease since 1992. It is important to know this information before addressing the psychological problems associated with fibromyalgia.

The authorities consider that the origin of this pathology could be neurological, and it would be the neurochemical imbalances triggered in the central nervous system that would be causing the sensation of pain which would result in hyperalgesia and allodynia.

Another problem with this condition is that there is no cure that works for all patients. Therefore, the treatments are designed to reduce the symptoms, in order to reduce the sensation of pain, but also the psychological problems associated with fibromyalgia.

Some studies suggest the possibility of a relationship between this disease and gluten intolerance in people who suffer from it. This connection arises from observing a certain improvement in patients after following a diet that does not contain cereals with this type of protein (mainly wheat, but also oats, barley or rye).

Main psychological problems linked to fibromyalgia

We have already delved into the implications of this disease and its main symptoms on a physical level, so We have the necessary basis to now be able to explore the main psychological problems associated with fibromyalgia. And it is that this disease not only leaves a mark on physical health, but also suffering from chronic pain can also affect mental health.

The characteristics of fibromyalgia generate a dent in the mood of the subject. It is not only about the pain condition, sometimes irreversible, that these people suffer. Also influencing the fact of not finding an explanation, of not having diagnostic tests that objectively show what you are feeling, and even the feeling of feeling questioned.

To this must be added the fact that almost 90% of patients with this disease report poor sleep and therefore do not have a restful sleep, which ends up undermining their health. Therefore, it is not at all strange that these patients experience signs of psychological ailments as common as anxiety and depression.

We will now focus on some of these diagnoses, separately, to understand their complexity.

Fibromyalgia and depression

Fibromyalgia patients who develop depression often show symptoms at different levels. At an affective level, the most evident of all, the person will be sad, with feelings of hopelessness towards her state, towards everything that surrounds him and even towards future prospects. It is one of the psychological problems associated with fibromyalgia.

Another level is cognitive, that is, that of thoughts. And it is that these can be affected, for example by the so-called bradypsychia, which consists of a slower than normal rhythm in the course of thoughts. Likewise, these will be negative in nature, highlighting the rumination of all the factors that concern the subject, generally around their condition as a patient with fibromyalgia.

You can experience symptoms of depression on a physical level, such as asthenia, traffic disorders digestive system, loss of sexual desire, balance difficulties, or disruption of circadian rhythms, among others. The difficulty that arises around these symptoms is to assign the origin to them, since they can be caused by the depressive state or by the subject's own fibromyalgia.

The last of the symptom levels is behavioral, behavioral. Psychomotor coordination may be impaired, constant crying may be experienced, performance for different tasks may have decreased and, speaking of very extreme but infrequent cases, patients can exert self-injurious attempts.

• You may be interested in: "Major Depression: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment"

Fibromyalgia and anxiety

Continuing with the question of the psychological problems associated with fibromyalgia, we will now focus on anxiety and its main characteristics when this psychopathology appears in patients suffering from the ailment that we occupies.

Anxiety in people who suffer from fibromyalgia can appear through disorders such as generalized anxiety or also as panic attacks. Panic attacks can occur frequently in these patients, spontaneously, in a short period of time and with abrupt onset.

Anxiety, both within the psychological problems associated with fibromyalgia and in general, involves a series of symptoms on a psychological but also physical level. Psychologically, the subject may experience a sense of fear, almost terror, while physically you will feel a racing pulse, breathing difficulties, abdominal pressure, tremors, sweating and even shaking chills.

Although we can all experience a feeling of anxiety at a certain point in our lives, the fact that these sensations make their appearance in a frequent, intense and random way, making you lose the adaptive capacity, is what makes it pathological.

If living with a chronic pain disease already presents enormous difficulties, the fact of adding the psychological problems associated with fibromyalgia makes it even more complicated. And the question does not end there, since Almost half of the patients who suffer from anxiety also show depressive symptoms, so the situation is complicated for them.

• You may be interested in: "Types of Anxiety Disorders and their characteristics"

Treatment for psychological problems associated with fibromyalgia

We have already seen some examples of the psychological problems associated with fibromyalgia that occur more frequently. Knowing such cases, it is not surprising that a part of fibromyalgia treatment is targeted to heal, not physical pain, but psychological pain, which also generates a condition in these people.

And it is that psychological damages have a double risk, because they cause suffering by themselves, but they can also contribute to perceive physical damage as more intense, as the person is losing resources with which to cope with the pain that he is feeling. Therefore, it is essential to act on the associated psychopathology in order to free him as much as possible from additional suffering.

By acting on a psychological level, great improvements can be achieved around the subject's mood, reducing both their anxiety and depressive symptoms. This process will have a direct impact on the way in which the person lives and accepts their disease, fibromyalgia, thus achieving a greater tolerance to pain, with which they must live.

It is important to bear in mind, in addition, that it is not only about mental factors, since anxiety generates a muscular tension that, for a disorder such as fibromyalgia, it is fatal, as it only enhances the damage that the person is experiencing, which in turn increases the anxiety.

As we see, it is a vicious cycle that feeds itself and which in turn can increase the symptoms of depression. Therefore, acting on the psychological problems associated with fibromyalgia is vital to achieve an improvement in the quality of life of these patients.

In conclusion, we have been able to see that fibromyalgia is a disorder that affects people who suffer from it, in a comprehensive way, since they have to live with the perspective of feeling the pain forever. The psychological consequences of this phenomenon are inevitable, and will be more or less profound depending on the characteristics of the person.

But any help you can receive in this regard will affect your state of health, both mental and physical.

Bibliographic references:

• Camino Vallhonrat, A., Jiménez Rico, B., de Castro-Palomino i Serra, M., Fábregas, M. (2009). Anger, fibromyalgia and anxiety: therapeutic approach from a CSM. Journal of the Spanish Pain Society. SciELO Spain.
• Máñez, I., Fenollosa, P., Martínez-Azucena, A., Salazar, A. (2005). Sleep quality, pain and depression in fibromyalgia. Journal of the Spanish Pain Society. SciELO Spain.
• Pérez-Pareja, J., Borrás, C., Palmer, A., Sesé, A., Molina, F., Gonzalvo, J. (2004). Fibromyalgia and negative emotions. Psicothema.
• Revuelta Evrard, E., Segura Escobar, E., Paulino Tevar, J. (2010). Depression, anxiety and fibromyalgia. Journal of the Spanish Pain Society. SciELO Spain.