The Emotional and Cognitive Communication Aspects of Fibromyalgia - Case Study Example

Fibromyalgia Syndrome patients are not a homogeneous group as far as their symptoms are concerned; instead, the condition manifests in a variety of symptoms and experiences, co-morbidities, coping routines, and beliefs, and their ability to engage and support their own treatment. As was the case with the respondents in this study, most fibromyalgia patients are diagnosed with cognitive deficits such as attention and memory dysfunction. However, studies and literature on these symptoms lack. Hence, more studies need to be done to establish the cognitive and emotional problems associated with FMS.

Further, a collaboration between patients and health care providers on managing the mental and cognitive disruptions of FMS should be studied further. Through these studies, it would be possible to assess the effectiveness of the various treatment methods available for alleviating the cognitive and mental disruptions of FMS. Fibromyalgia is a condition with symptoms such as extensive musculoskeletal pain, exhaustion, sleep, cognitive, mental, and mood issues. In many cases, the condition’s signs and symptoms are caused by physical trauma, surgery, infections, or significant levels of psychological stress.

However, in a few cases, the signs and symptoms accumulate over time without a known event triggering it (Ullrich, Hauer & Farin, 2014). Worth noting among the symptoms of the disorder are the cognitive difficulties, which impair patients’ ability to focus, pay attention, and concentrate on mental tasks. The cognitive and mental symptoms of fibromyalgia are nonspecific, invisible, and subjective (Barrett, 2000). Hence, physicians find it difficult to arrive at an early diagnosis and therefore tend to underreport or misdiagnose the condition (Bennett, Smythe, & Wolfe, 1992; Goldenberg, 1995).

Seemingly, individuals with fibromyalgia tend to look well. Thus, professionals, friends, relatives, and employers may refuse to credit the claim that those affected have a biomedical illness that imposes physical limitations (Soderberg & Lundman, 2001; Soderberg, Lundman, & Norberg, 1999; Sturge-Jacobs, 2002; Vanderhaeghe, 2000).