Relationship between mentalizing abilities, attachment styles, anxiety and depressive symptom levels in fibromyalgia patients

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate patients with fibromyalgia in terms of mentalizing abilities and to identify the relationships between mentalization skills, attachment styles, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in these patients. Method: The sample consisted of 30 patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia and 30 healthy volunteers. Patients with fibromyalgia and the control group were both administered the following battery of tests: Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire–Revised (ECR-R), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results: Fibromyalgia group and healthy controls differed significantly in terms of total scores of the RMET. The fibromyalgia group had significantly lower scores in terms of mentalization skills compared to healthy controls. The mean anxiety and depression scores of the fibromyalgia group were higher than in the healthy controls. The mean scores of anxiety and avoidance dimensions in the fibromyalgia group were not different from healthy controls. Conclusion: Fibromyalgia patients were found to have significantly lower mentalizing abilities compared to healthy controls. This study may provide data for clinical applications using mentalization as a tool to understand and treat the patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia more efficiently.