Department of Psychology, The University of Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104, USA.
J Pain. 2009 Nov;10(11):1151-60. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2009.04.008. Epub 2009 Jul 24.
Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a chronic pain disorder associated with widespread musculoskeletal pain, tenderness, and fatigue. Additionally, correlational research suggests negative affect (eg, depression, anxiety) and deficits in positive affect may contribute to FMS symptomatology. However, well-controlled, experimental research is necessary to ascertain whether patients with FMS have problems in affective processing. The present study used a well-validated picture-viewing paradigm to evoke emotional responses in 17 patients with FMS and 17 sex- and age-matched healthy control participants. Each participant viewed pleasant (erotica), neutral, and unpleasant (attack related) pictures, and abrupt white noises were delivered during two-thirds of the pictures to evoke startle eyeblinks. Appetitive and defensive responding was assessed from subjective (valence/pleasure and arousal ratings) and physiological (corrugator EMG, heart rate, skin-conductance response, startle-reflex modulation) reactions to pictures. Results suggested FMS was associated with greater defensive activation (displeasure, subjective arousal, corrugator EMG) to the unpleasant, threat-related pictures, but not deficits in appetitive activation to erotic pictures. Although preliminary, these data suggest individuals with FMS have deficits in affective processing, but this dysregulation may be limited to defensive activation. Implications for treatment and future research are discussed.
Fibromyalgia is a debilitating disease associated with affective distress. Results from the present study suggest that FMS is associated with enhanced defensive activation to nonpainful threat-related stimuli, but not deficits in appetitive reactions to erotic stimuli. These findings have implications for the treatment and study of FMS.
纤维肌痛综合征（FMS）是一种慢性疼痛障碍，与广泛的肌肉骨骼疼痛、压痛和疲劳有关。此外，相关研究表明，负性情绪（如抑郁、焦虑）和正性情绪不足可能导致 FMS 症状。然而，需要进行良好控制的实验研究，以确定 FMS 患者是否存在情感处理问题。本研究使用了一种经过充分验证的图片观看范式，在 17 名 FMS 患者和 17 名性别和年龄匹配的健康对照参与者中诱发情绪反应。每位参与者观看了愉快（色情）、中性和不愉快（攻击相关）的图片，在三分之二的图片中会突然出现白噪声，以引起惊吓性眨眼。从图片的主观（效价/愉悦和唤醒评分）和生理（皱眉肌 EMG、心率、皮肤电导反应、惊吓反射调制）反应评估食欲和防御反应。结果表明，FMS 与对不愉快、威胁相关的图片的防御性激活（不愉快、主观唤醒、皱眉肌 EMG）增加有关，但对色情图片的食欲激活没有缺陷。尽管这些数据是初步的，但它们表明 FMS 个体的情感处理存在缺陷，但这种失调可能仅限于防御性激活。讨论了对治疗和未来研究的影响。
纤维肌痛是一种使人衰弱的疾病，与情感困扰有关。本研究的结果表明，FMS 与非疼痛性威胁相关刺激的防御性激活增强有关，但对色情刺激的食欲反应没有缺陷。这些发现对 FMS 的治疗和研究具有重要意义。
