Fears and beliefs in patients with the pelvic pain syndrome.

In order to explore attitudes and beliefs in patients with the pelvic pain syndrome, the authors matched gynaecological patients with this syndrome (N = 41) with other gynaecological patients. They administered the Illness Behavior Questionnaire and Illness Attitude Scales (that measure attitudes, fears and beliefs about illness) to both groups. In spite of thorough investigations, 18 patients (44%) with the pelvic pain syndrome believed that their physician had not diagnosed their illness correctly and feared that they had a serious disease. The findings appear to have implications for treatment.