Personality and fibromyalgia syndrome

Background: Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FM) is a Functional Somatic Syndrome characterized by chronic pain, sleep disturbances, fatigue, cognitive changes and mood disorders. While many studies have highlighted high level of psychopathological disorders, the issue of a personality profile specific of FM is still debated. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a group of 40 FM patients was compared to a group of 40 patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and 40 Healthy Controls (HC). Personality Disorders (PD) and Personality Organization (PO) were assessed by means of the Structured Clinical Interview of Personality Disorder (SCID-5-PD) and the Structured Interview of Personality Organization (STIPO), respectively. Results: According to the SCID-5-PD, 32% of FM patients reported a PD, especially a Borderline or an Other Specified Disorders, compared to 7.5% of AR patients and 5% of HC. Regarding the STIPO, 42.5% of FM patients had a borderline PO, compared to 25% of AR patients and 7.5% of HC. In particular, FM patients had high impairments in the STIPO Coping-Rigidity, Primitive Defenses and Object Relations dimensions. Furthermore, the presence of a borderline PO has a statistically significant negative effect on depressive symptoms, global distress indices and somatization dimension of the Self-Report Symptoms Inventory (SCL-90-R), and on the mental component of the health related quality of life (SF-36). Conclusions: Fibromyalgia patients showed a high prevalence of a borderline PO, which negative impact on the psychopathological symptoms. The assessment of PO could be a crucial issue for treatment planning in chronic pain patients, and should further be analysed

Psychological factors and quality of life in lymphoma patients treated with oral chemotherapy

The aim of the study was to carry out a longitudinal evaluation of anxious-depressive symptomatology and quality of life in onco-hematological patients in treatment with oral chemotherapies. The project was conducted at the Integrated Oral Chemotherapy Service, in the Subalpine Onco-Hematological Center of the “Città della Salute e della Scienza” University Hospital of Turin. Thirty patients with lymphoma were evaluated with three measurements on psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale – HADS and the Distress Thermometer – DT) and quality of life (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale-General, FACT-G). The psychological assessment was taken at the start of chemotherapy (T0) and after 3 cycles of treatment (T1), during outpatient hematological visits. A secondary aim was to evaluate the subjective patients’ opinion about the quality of the service and the level of concern about the therapy’s management, only at T1. Results of the psychological questionnaires showed the maintenance of distress and anxious-depressive symptomatology levels below the threshold of clinical relevance. Regarding the quality of life, our data showed a statistically significant decrease on the total score. What is more, patients have positively evaluated the presence of the pharmacist in the clinic, as a competent and supportive figure for the management of chemotherapy treatment