[Are patients with glossodynia unremarkable? A hard-to-grasp psychodiagnostic disease]

Idiopathic glossodynia is generally considered a disease with profound psychical involvement. Nevertheless, psychodiagnostic studies on this disease have been rare. The patients usually have low emotional self-reference, are focused on their physical complaints and refuse a psychosomatic attribute. Therefore, the doctor-patient relationship is often complicated, which impedes the initiation of an adequate therapy.

Seventeen patients diagnosed to have glossodynia or orofascial pain syndrome were examined within the psychosomatic consultation-liaison service of two dermatological hospitals. The Coping with Skin Disease Questionnaire (CSD) and the Symptom Check List (SCL-90R) were used as test inventory. Patients with glossodynia were compared with other dermatological patients in the consultation-liaison service (n = 356) and with the standard random sample of the SCL-90R.

By comparing the test inventories it was found that glossodynia patients appeared particularly "inconspicious" on nearly all dimensions. Compared with the standard random sample of the SCL-90R (n = 1006) higher values were only observed for the scores "somatization" and "anxiety".

Based on the two psychological test inventories, no indication of depression was found, which is often suspected in glossodynia patients. It appears that psychosomatic (accompanying) symptoms in these individuals are not sufficiently assessed by many psychological test instruments.