Personality and fibromyalgia: Relationships with clinical, emotional, and functional variables

This study evaluates H.J. Eysenck's three personality dimensions (neuroticism, extraversion, and psychoticism) in patients with fibromyalgia (FMS) compared with healthy controls (HC), and analyzes their association with clinical, emotional and functional variables and pain coping strategies. Ninety-two FMS patients and 65 HC completed the abbreviated EPQR, in addition to instruments measuring clinical pain, fatigue, sleep, anxiety, depression, health related quality of live (HRQL) and pain coping strategies. Results showed: (1) FMS patients exhibited greater levels of neuroticism and psychoticism but not extroversion, in comparison with HC; (2) group differences in all measured variables remained when the three personality dimensions were entered as covariates; (3) while in HC neuroticism was positively associated with pain, anxiety, depression, catastrophizing strategy scores, and lower HRQL, in FMS patients associations were sparse and lower in magnitude; (4) in FMS patients extroversion was associated with lower pain, anxiety, and depression, and higher mental HRQL; and (5) psychoticism was associated with lower anxiety in the FMS group and greater catastrophizing in HC. Data suggest that neuroticism only plays a minor role in clinical manifestations of FMS. However, extraversion appears to exert a protective influence in FMS, as it is associated with better health outcomes in several domains.