The role of psychological factors in inflammatory rheumatic diseases: From burden to tailored treatment.

Abstract

Inflammatory rheumatic diseases have a long-lasting effect on patients' physical and psychological functioning, for instance, due to disabling symptoms and unpredictable disease course. Consequently, many patients show adjustment problems such as depressed mood, which in turn can negatively influence their disease outcome. Specific biopsychosocial factors have shown to affect this outcome. For example, daily stress, cognitive-behavioral risk factors such as pain catastrophizing and avoidance, and resilience factors such as optimism and social support influence the quality of life, physical symptoms of pain and fatigue, and inflammatory markers. Psychological interventions tackling these factors can have beneficial effects on physical and psychological functioning. Recent advances in screening for patients at risk, tailored treatment, and eHealth further broaden the efficiency and scope of these interventions while simultaneously optimizing patient empowerment. This chapter describes the biopsychosocial risk and resilience factors related to disease outcome and the possible benefits of psychological treatment strategies in inflammatory rheumatic diseases.