The Effect of Positive Psychotherapy on Pain Perception, Daily Functioning, and Mental Health in Patients With...

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a complex Chronic pain disorder characterized by several symptoms, including widespread pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, cognitive dysfunction, and mood disorders, with an unknown etiology, and unclear pathophysiology.

In this study, a Positive Psychotherapy Program for Patients with Fibromyalgia Syndrome was developed to change the pain perception of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome, optimize their activities of daily living, and improve their mental state, and the effectiveness of the program was confirmed.

We employed a randomized controlled design in this investigation, utilizing a pretest (at baseline), posttest (at the end of the ten-week intervention), and follow-up (in the third month) approach.

The study was conducted from July 2023 to May 2024 with 72 outpatients diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome (experimental group=36, control group=36) who agreed to participate in the study. Data were collected using the Descriptive Information Form, Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) and General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28). The data were analyzed using SPSS for mac version 26 software. The 36 patients in the experimental group participated in a program consisting of 10 sessions of 90 minutes each based on positive psychotherapy theory for 10 weeks.

The analysis revealed that there were significant differences between the experimental and control groups in terms of pain, FIQ scores, depression sub-dimension, anxiety sub-dimension, social functioning sub-dimension and somatic symptoms sub-dimensions (VAS: p=0.001, η²=0.438; FIQ: p=0.001, η²=0.517; GHQ-28 total p=0.001, η²=0.522).

In line with these results, it is recommended that the Positive Psychotherapy Program for Patients with Fibromyalgia Syndrome be used to help fibromyalgia patients improve their symptoms. The research was registered in the Clinical Trials Number protocol registration system with the number NCT06147882.