Psychologic studies in fibrositis.

During the past five years, there have been a number of controlled reports regarding the possible association of fibrositis with psychologic disorders. The results of these studies are quite different, which is not surprising in view of the differences in patient populations and study instruments used. We gave the Diagnostic Interview Schedule to 82 patients with fibrositis and to control subjects, and we found an association of depression with fibrositis. Depression was also more common in first-degree relatives of patients with fibrositis. However, in most instances, the depression antedated fibrositis by more than one year, indicating a possible psychobiologic association, rather than a casual one.