PERSONALITY, DEFENCE MECHANISMS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS IN WOMEN WITH FIBROMYALGIA

The present study aimed to investigate both personality traits and defence mechanisms, and their impact on psychological distress (anxiety and depressive symptoms) in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) compared to chronic-pain free women (HC). In order to reach these goals, 54 women with FM and 54 HC were asked to fill in the following measures: (1) Temperament and Character Inventory–Revised; (2) Toronto Alexithymia scale; (3) Defense Style Questionnaire and (4) Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The results indicated that FM patients displayed higher alexithymia (p <.001), higher harm avoidance p <.001), lower self-direct- edness (p =.003), lower persistence (p <.001), higher use of maladaptive defence style (p <.001) and higher levels of psychological distress (p <.001), compared to HC. Moreover, we found that in the final model, [F(1, 47) =9.222, p =.004] alexithymia (p =.004), harm avoidance (p =.014) and maladaptive defence style (p =.015) were significant predictors of psychological distress in FM patients. These results show a particular person- ality and defence profile of FM patients and the role of these psychological variables in the levels of distress. Moreover, the present findings could help clinicians in the diagnosis and treatment of FM patients.