Medium-term effects of a multimodal therapy on patients with fibromyalgia. Results of a controlled efficacy study

Fibromyalgia shows a chronic course of the disease in most cases. Multimodal therapy has short-term effects but only intensive forms of therapy attain long-term effects. As part of an inpatient rehabilitation program a multimodal pain treatment including cognitive-behavioral therapy was conducted in order to evaluate medium-term effects. The German pain questionnaire (DSF), the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS-D), the chronic pain questionnaire (FESV), the short form questionnaire on indicators of rehabilitation status (IRES-24) and the self-efficacy scale (ASES-D) were distributed to 166 fibromyalgia patients (intervention group n=116; control group n=50) before and after rehabilitation as well as 6 months after treatment. The intervention group showed better results regarding symptoms (pain intensity, anxiety, depression), state of health (somatic health, psychological well-being, functioning in everyday life) and self-efficacy. Based on the positive medium-term effects on functioning in everyday life and self-efficacy there is evidence that patients benefit from multimodal rehabilitation programs including integrative patient education.