Personality-related core beliefs in patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia plus depression: A
comparison with depressed and healthy control groups
Sammanfattning
Background: Personality has an important role in understanding both fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS)
and major depressive disorder (MDD). Aims: This study considers the question that specific
personality features may characterize depressed FMS patients. Materials and methods: To this end,
125 individuals were included in the study: 40 of them diagnosed with FMS+ MDD, 40 with MDD only
and 45 healthy controls. Individual Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Personality Belief
Questionnaire-Short Form (PBQ-SF) scores were compared between the three groups. Results: The
mean scores for each personality domain of the PBQ-SF were the highest in the MDD group and the
lowest mean scores appeared in the control group. Dependent personality and obsessive-
compulsive personality scores were higher in the MDD group (t = 2.510, P = 0.014 and t = 2.240, P =
0.028, respectively) in comparison with the FM+ MDD group. However, this difference disappeared
when PBQ-SF scores were controlled for depression severity. Conclusions: Although some common
personality features are evident in FMS patients, it seems that the differences identified are primarily
related to depression symptom severity.