The Dissociative Factor in Symptom Reports of Rheumatic Patients with and Without Fibromyalgia

The main objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of dissociation and its relationships to symptom reporting in fibromyalgia (FM) and other rheumatic disorders (non-FM). The participants were 73 women with FM and 85 relatively matched women with other rheumatic disorders. The participants were administered the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), the Profile Of Mood States (POMS), and a 50-item medical checklist. The prevalence of dissociation (DES q 25) was significantly higher in FM patients(30.1%) compared to other rheumatic disorders (7.0%). Symptom reporting correlated with measures of dissociation in both patient groups (FM:R = 0.42, p < .001; non-FM:R = 0.44, p < .001), when controlled for age, depression, and anxiety. A regression analysis confirmed the strong linkage between somatic variation and dissociation. The results suggest that dissociation is a problem for a substantial segment of patients with fibromyalgia and that dissociation is related to certain physical symptoms of fibromyalgia. Dissociation offers a different perspective on medically unexplained symptoms and may need to be addressed in future research.