Chronic pelvic pain and depression.

The psychological and clinical characteristics of 29 women who underwent laparoscopy for chronic pelvic pain (CPP) have been studied. Patients (n = 11) with CPP without obvious organic pathology showed a significantly higher mean score at the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale and more somatic symptoms which usually accompany depression than patients (n = 18) with CPP in whom pathology was found; they also showed higher frequencies for depressive disorders in personal anamnesis and for 'depression spectrum disorders' in family history. No differences between the two groups emerged for anxiety, somatization and inadequacy as measured by the Kellner-Sheffield Symptom Rating Test. Through a comparison with a group of women affected with another type of idiopathic chronic pain, and on the basis of the above reported results, the authors suggest that CPP without obvious organic pathology might be an expression of a depressive disorder.