[Cognitive behavior therapy in patients with ankylosing spondylitis]

As an adjunctive treatment, a cognitive-behavioral program for pain management was administered to 25 patients with spondylitis ankylosans organized in self-help groups of the German Rheumatism-League. Another 20 patients with the same disorder served as a waiting-for-treatment control-group. The program consisted of training in progressive muscle relaxation, of cognitive and hypnotic procedures for the control of pain, as well as of information and group discussions, and it was conducted in a group setting with 12 sessions of about 90 min each. A pain diary and questionnaires on trait anxiety, depression, and psychophysiological complaints were used to evaluate the outcome. In a six-month follow-up, significant reductions in pain intensity, in impairments due to pain, in anxiety, and in sleep disorders could be confirmed by analyses of variance. Besides in improvement in pain control, our results indicate a long-term effect on wellbeing as a consequence of our program.