Relationship of psychiatric history to pain reports in rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: The purpose was to examine the relationship of pre-existing psychiatric history to pain reports in a cohort of persons with RA and concomitant major depression who were receiving a trial of antidepressant medication.

Method: RA patients (n = 41) with a current episode of major depression were divided into two subgroups comprised of those with a previous psychiatric history (PSY+) (n = 20) and those without a previous psychiatric history (PSY-) (n = 21). The groups were compared with regard to their responsiveness to a regimen of antidepressive medication on measures of depression, pain, coping, and life stress over a period of 15 months.