ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the best work on the clinical dimensions of the relationship between fibromyalgia and psychiatric morbidity. Fibromyalgia is a chronic illness characterized by musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and psychological distress with a prevalence of 2 percent in the general population and 20 percent among rheumatology outpatients. The assessment of major mood disorders among first-degree relatives found that 54 percent of patients with major depression, 47 percent of patients with fibromyalgia, and 14 percent of patients with rheumatoid arthritis had a family history of major affective disorder. The lifetime prevalence of major depression was 20 percent in the fibromyalgia group and 9 percent in the rheumatoid arthritis group; the difference did not reach statistical significance. Patients with fibromyalgia had a higher burden of affective psychopathology, as demonstrated by significantly higher scores on the scales measuring melancholia, atypical depression, and anxiety.
