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Psychological and mind-body interventions for endometriosis: a systematic review

journal contribution
posted on 2019-09-01, 00:00 authored by Subhadra EvansSubhadra Evans, Stephanie Fernandez, Lisa OliveLisa Olive, Laura Payne, Antonina Mikocka-WalusAntonina Mikocka-Walus
Endometriosis is a common gynecological condition associated with debilitaing pain and poor mental health. This review examines the evidence for psychological and mind-body (PMB) interventions to improve endometriosis pain, psychological distress, sleep and fatigue. Electronic databases searched included PsychINFO, MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and PubMed. Inclusion criteria were women with endometriosis, and interventions that used psychological or mind-body interventions; there were no exclusion criteria regarding study design. Studies were identified and coded using standard criteria, and risk of bias was assessed with established tools relevant to the study design. A total of 12 publications relating to 9 separate studies were identified:- 3 randomized controlled trials, 1 controlled trial, 2 single-arm studies, 1 retrospective cohort study, and 2 case series. Interventions included yoga, mindfulness, relaxation training, cognitive behavioural therapy combined with physical therapy, Chinese medicine combined with psychotherapy, and biofeedback. Results indicate that no studies have yet used gold-standard methodology and, thus, definitive conclusions cannot be offered about PMB efficacy. However, the results of these pilot studies suggest that PMB interventions show promise in alleviating pain, anxiety, depression, stress and fatigue in women with endometriosis, and future well-designed RCTs including active control groups are warranted.

History

Journal

Journal of psychosomatic research

Volume

124

Article number

109756

Pagination

1 - 11

Publisher

Elsevier

Location

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

ISSN

0022-3999

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2019, Elsevier Inc.