PSYCHOLOGICAL-ASPECTS OF CHRONIC PELVIC PAIN IN WOMEN

Three psychometric tests: (1) A Dutch adjustment of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), (2) The Amsterdam Biographical Questionnaire (ABV-V), and (3) The Interpersonal Relations Questionnaire (VIR) were administered to three groups of patients: (1) fifteen patients with chronic pelvic pain without clear organic cause; (2) twenty-two patients with chronic pelvic pain due to endometriosis; and (3) twenty-three pain-free patients. The analysis of the results showed that Groups 1 and 2 did not differ significantly on the MMPI and a global view of the two pain groups indicates a neurotic behavior, but both Groups 1 and 2 differed from Group 3 (the control group) and from Group 4 (the standardization group of the adapted MMPI). On the ABV-V the pain groups' answers were similar to those of neurotic patients, while the patient control group showed a certain neurotic tendency. The results on the VIR lead to the conclusion that Group 2 has the same profile as Group 1, although they did not deviate as strongly from the control group. As it is improbable that chronic pain for which an organic cause has been found occurs predominantly in patients with neurotic personality structure or neurotic reactions, we must admit that chronic pain with an organic origin can lead to neurotic reactions. These data confirm earlier studies on neurologic patients and on patients with chronic low back pain. Because even the patient control group showed a certain neurotic tendency, it follows that every contact with the medical world results in some degree of uncertainty and that the selection of control groups, when psychosomatic problems are being studied, is especially difficult. © 1979.