Anxiety, depression and sexual dysfunction in women with chronic pelvic pain

Abstract

In this article we compared healthy women with women having chronic pelvic pain (CPP) for the levels of depression, anxiety, and sexual dysfunction. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Outpatient Clinic and Family Planning Department of Inonu University Medical Faculty in Turkey. We examined 19 women with CPP and 25 healthy women between January 2000 and April 2000. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Golombok Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction (GRISS) were used for psychological assessments. Women with CPP had significantly higher scores on the BDI and GRISS. While avoidance, dissatisfaction and non-sensuality subscale scores of the GRISS showed a positive correlation with depression and anxiety scores, the vaginismus subscale score had a positive correlation with the BAI scores. Our results indicated that there is a link between anxiety, depression and sexual dysfunction in women with chronic pelvic pain. Further studies are needed to characterize this link.