EFFICACY OF SHORT-TERM PSYCHOTHERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH FIBROMYALGIA: A COMPARISON BETWEEN PSYCHODYNAMIC AND COGNITIVE THERAPY

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain syndrome, associated with anxiety/depressive symptoms and poor qual- ity of life (QoL). A large body of evidence has proved the efficacy of cognitive-behavioural psychotherapy, whereas limited data are available for brief psychodynamic therapy (BPT). Therefore, we examined if brief psychotherapies could improve the levels of well-being and QoL in FM. Moreover, we investigated the effi- cacy of BPT, inspired by the Brief Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy model, with respect to cognitive therapy (CT). Sixty-one female FM patients were randomly assigned to one of the two short-term psychotherapies. Thirty patients attended BPT (16 sessions, 1 session/week) and 31 received CT (16 sessions, 1 session/week). Psychological measures, administered before (T0) and after the treatment (T1), included pain item of FIQ-R, HADS, and SF-36. There was a significant main effect of time in reducing pain intensity (F(1,59)=6.079, p=.017) and anxiety scores (F(1,59)=4.186, p=.045), and in improving both mental (F(1,59)=5.945, p=.018) and physical (F(1,59)=7.605, p=.008) component of QoL. No significant interaction between time and treatment was found. BPT was found to be as effective as CT in lowering anxiety symptoms and pain levels, and in improving QoL in FM patients.