Personality in patients with long-term patellofemoral pain syndrome

Personality characteristics in patients with long-term patellofemoral pain were compared to those of matched controls and other groups both of non-patients and of psychiatric outpatients with character disorders. Personality was described using the self-administered dependency and alexithymia scales, the Karolinska Scales of Personality and the Rorschach inkblot method. The hypothesis was that the patellofemoral pain patients would have higher levels of anxiety, depression, helplessness, aggression and alexithymic characteristics than the matched controls. There were only a few significant differences between the knee patients and the matched controls. The Rorschach measures suggested significantly greater depression, hostility and passive attitude in the knee patients as compared to the reference data. There were no indications of the hypothesised alexithymic characteristics in the knee patients. If patellofemoral pain patients do not improve as expected, referral to a pain clinic with psychological expertise could be considered.