Personality assessment of patients with complex regional pain syndrome type I.

OBJECTIVE

There is controversy regarding the importance of psychological/psychiatric factors in the development of the Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). Our objective was to determine whether CRPS type I patients were psychiatrically different from other chronic pain patients, with particular attention to personality pathology.

DESIGN

A standardized clinical assessment of all major psychiatric categories, including personality disorders, was performed on 25 CRPS type I patients and a control group of 25 patients with chronic low back pain from disc-related radiculopathy.

MEASURES

Both sections of the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (3rd ed., rev.) and the visual analog scale.

RESULTS

Both groups were similar in terms of pain intensity and duration. Statistical analysis showed both groups to have a significant amount of major psychiatric comorbidity, in particular major depressive disorder, and a high incidence of personality disorders. Therefore, intense chronic pain was associated with significant psychiatric comorbidity in both groups and in similar proportions.

CONCLUSION

The high incidence of personality pathology in both groups may represent an exaggeration of maladaptive personality traits and coping styles as a result of a chronic, intense, state of pain.