Abstract

Fibromyalgia is a functional pain syndrome manifested by psychological symptoms such as dissociative symptoms, which are closely related to childhood trauma. The purpose of this research was to compare female fibromyalgia patients and healthy females and to investigate the prevalence of childhood trauma and dissociative symptoms. The study included 51 patients followed up with the diagnosis of fibromyalgia in the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic of Bezmialem Vakıf University, and a control group of 51 healthy females with identical sociodemographic characteristics. All the participants were aged 18-69 years, and free of pain conditions and other vital medical or psychiatric disorders. Evaluations were made using a sociodemographic form, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Childhood Abuse and Neglect Question Form, Dissociative Experiences Scale and Visual Analogue Scale. One of the main findings was that 88.2% of fibromyalgia patients had experienced childhood trauma. The fibromyalgia patients stated a higher prevalence of childhood trauma than the control group (p=.05). With the exception of emotional neglect, the fibromyalgia patients scored higher than the control group in the other four sub-dimensions of Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. The Visual Analogue Scale pain score was found to be associated with overall childhood trauma, all sub-dimensions of childhood trauma and dissociative experiences. Dissociative experiences was the only predictor of pain. Based on the findings of this study, trauma-related dissociative experiences may be of critical importance in the onset of fibromyalgia. These findings emphasize the importance of preventing childhood traumas.

Key words: Childhood trauma, dissociation, pain, fibromyalgia, child abuse, trauma psychotherapy