NCT06135753

Psychosomatic Intervention in Fibromyalgia.

Psychosomatic Assessment and Intervention in Fibromyalgia

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 100 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University of Florence · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Fibromyalgia is a widespread musculoskeletal pain syndrome. It is characterized by physical manifestations which are also the expression of a psychological distress as well as specific illness attitudes and behaviors. Indeed, it is considered a psychosomatic disorder. In this framework, we hypothesize the clinical utility of a psychosomatic assessment guided by rheumatologists and clinical psychologists (Study 1) and the utility of an integrated multidisciplinary psychosomatic intervention based on cognitive restructuring/psychoeducation followed by museum therapy (Study 2). For Study 1 a cross-sectional observation study will be implemented, for Study 2 a randomized controlled trial will be applied.

Detailed description

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a widespread musculoskeletal pain syndrome characterized by chronic widespread pain, unrefreshing sleep, physical exhaustion, and cognitive difficulties. It occurs in all populations throughout the world, with prevalence between 2% and 4% in general populations. Definition, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of FM remain points of contention. There is no specific diagnostic laboratory test or biomarker to support the diagnostic process and the diagnosis is clinical. For this reason, rheumatologists and clinical psychologists are strongly involved in the diagnostic process and might benefit from tools for comprehensive psychosomatic assessment. Also the treatment of FM remains a challenge, because pharmacological interventions don't consider psychological and social problems and non-pharmacological treatments have shown poor efficacy and are often tested via non-rigorous methods. A multidisciplinary approach which include biological aspects and psychological one, under comprehensive psychosomatic principles, seem to be the best choice for FM. The primary aim of the present study is to evaluate the psychological status of FM subjects, focusing on a psychosomatic assessment and then testing the efficacy of a multidisciplinary psychosomatic intervention based on cognitive restructuring followed by museum therapy vs a control condition followed by museum therapy.

Conditions

• Fibromyalgia

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	psychosomatic intervention based on cognitive restructuring.	Participants will receive information on psychosomatic phenomena and over-listening of somatic manifestations (Session 1), interpretation and possible catastrophization of somatic manifestations even when they might be well-known health problems or potential physiological or para-physiological manifestations (Session 2), pain-proneness (Session 3) and mental pain and psychological distress in somatizers (Session 4). The second part of each session will be devoted to group cognitive restructuring, thus participants will be stimulated in verifying how the phenomena illustrated are in their lives and how they can be differently conceptualized in order to be less intrusive and less able to reduce their own functioning.
BEHAVIORAL	Control condition	The control condition will include 4 sessions that will inform participants about well-being and lifestyles which can influence it. They will be articulated as follows. Session 1: illustrating the concept of lifestyle and well-being. Session 2 and session 3: illustrating healthy eating and steps to healthy eating. Session 4: illustrating physical exercise and how it promotes health.
OTHER	Experimental and control condition: Museum therapy	Session 5-6-7: preselected painting works from the Uffizi Galleries (Florence) will be presented to the participants in order to trigger reflections and emotional responses on specific pain related topics. Session 8: visit the Galleria di Arte Moderna at Palazzo Pitti, in person. Each session will be aimed at facilitating emotional expressions and partecipants' behavioral activation and identifying thoughts associated with those emotions and, if appropriate, remodulating them in a functional way (cognitive restructuring). Session 9: share the experience of the previous meetings and to recap strategies and skills which could be implemented in FM participants' daily life to cope with their illness.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-11-01
• Primary completion: 2026-12-30
• Completion: 2026-12-30
• First posted: 2023-11-18
• Last updated: 2025-03-27

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Italy