Temperament and character personality dimensions in patients with nonspecific musculoskeletal disorders

The aim of this study was to investigate temperament and character dimensions in a group of patients with nonspecific musculoskeletal disorders and to show how personality is related to pain and psychologic distress in pain patients.

A total of 78 patients with musculoskeletal disorders were compared with a matched control group of 118 nonpatients. The Temperament and Character Inventory, the Symptom Check List, and the Multidimensional Pain Inventory were used.

The pain patients differed significantly from the controls and exhibited a personality profile with high harm avoidance and low self-directness, which indicate that patients with nonspecific musculoskeletal pain disorders can be characterized as being cautious, insecure, and pessimistic. In addition, they can be described as having difficulties in accepting responsibility, lack of long-term goals, chronically low self-esteem, and struggle with identity. This is probably a salient characteristic of patients with chronic pain. The results also showed that personality dimensions had a stronger correlation to psychologic distress than to pain. The result indicated that harm avoidance probably is an important personality trait in anxiety states.

The results underline the importance of using instruments assessing personality and psychologic symptoms in patients with nonspecific musculoskeletal disorders both as diagnostic tools and in treatment planning.