The effect of psychoeducation on anxiety and pain in patients with mastalgia

Mastalgia is a debilitating disorder, which has serious effects on one's daily life and causes significant medical costs.

Mastalgia patients determine the overall approach and improve the quality of life of patients.

In this study, the outcomes of psychoeducation on anxiety and pain in a group of patients with mastalgia without an organic etiology have been investigated. 88 patients were included in this study. The socio-demographic data form, the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20), the Hamilton Anxiety Scorer (HAM-A), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-I, STAI-2) and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were all applied to the patients. 64 randomly selected patients (Group 1) were given psychoeducation while the remaining 24 (Group 2) were not. All patients were called back after 1 month for repeats of the HAM-A, STAI-I, STAI-2 and VAS tests.

The results of this study demonstrated that psychoeducation has positive impacts on the perception of pain besides stationary, contemporary and total anxiety scores.

It is concluded that the administration of psychoeducation is a good choice in the degradation of anxiety symptoms and pain.