A comparison of patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome and patients diagnosed without fibromyalgia syndrome in terms of early maladaptive schemas

The goal of this research was to analyze the relationship between fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and early maladaptive schemas. The sample of the study consisted of 306 participants, 153 being in the treatment group and 153 being in the control group, with an age range between 20-65 and who have met the criteria for participating in the research. 139 (90.8%) of the participants in the treatment group were women, and 14 (9.2%) were men. 135 (88.2%) of the participants in the control group were women, and 18 (11.8%) were men. The participants signed a voluntary participation form, and the Young Schema Questionnaire Short Form (YSQ–SF3) and the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire Scale (FIQ) were applied. In the conducted analyses, the included group had a significant impact on early maladaptive schema areas, and the group variable (treatment-control) accounted for 55% of the variance on the schemas. Also, it was found that patients with FMS diagnosis, as opposed to undiagnosed patients, leaned more towards enmeshment/dependence, failure, vulnerability to harm, abandonment, emotional deprivation, defectiveness, social isolation/mistrust, pessimism, emotional inhibition, unrelenting standards, punitiveness, self-sacrifice, and approval-seeking schemas while leaning less towards the entitlement/insufficient self-control schema area. In the study, it was found that FMS patients leaned more towards all schemas except entitlement/insufficient self-control. It is thought that FMS patients not seeing themselves as entitled, excessively controlling and repressing their impulses, experiencing difficulties when expressing emotions and defending their rights was influential in their lesser leaning towards the entitlement/insufficient self-control schema.