Psychological aspects of endometriosis: differences between patients with or without pain on four psychological variables.

OBJECTIVE

Women with endometriosis often have pain symptoms that seemingly do not relate to the stage of disease. It has been suggested that psychological factors may contribute to this disproportion. The purpose of this study was to compare patients with and without pain symptoms to see whether they differed in profile on four psychological parameters.

STUDY DESIGN

Sixty-three women with laparoscopically diagnosed endometriosis of whom 20 were symptom free, completed four psychometric tests assessing coping, emotional inhibition, depression, and anxiety.

RESULTS

Significant positive correlations were found between coping and depression/anxiety, and between pain severity and subjective psychosocial impairment. There were no significant differences between the two groups on depression or anxiety and no correlations between pain severity and depression/anxiety.

CONCLUSION

Coping appears to be of major importance to the psychological consequences of endometriosis. This may have implications for the treatment of endometriosis. The study could not confirm previous findings of pain related to endometriosis being associated with a higher prevalence of depression and anxiety.