A psychosocial approach to female genital pain

Marieke Dewitte*, Charmaine Borg, Lior Lowenstein

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal(Systematic) Review article peer-review

Abstract

Genital pain is a prevalent, complex, and disabling health concern in women. Efforts to study this chronic pain condition have been complicated by the fact that genital pain is heterogeneous and exists at the intersection of different biopsychosocial disciplines. Thus, organization of theoretical ideas and empirical findings across research areas is required to improve our understanding of how biopsychosocial factors affect the development and maintenance of the pain, the reporting of symptoms, and the choice of treatment. In the past, the study of physical markers has received the most research attention; an assimilation of the psychosocial variables underlying genital pain is, therefore, particularly needed to inform the field about the rapidly growing literature and stimulate interdisciplinary work. Current research lacks specificity, fails to capture the unique features of different pain conditions, and yields conflicting evidence, which makes it difficult to draw uniform conclusions. Although considerable advances have been made, confusion remains at the nosological, aetiological, theoretical, methodological, and treatment levels. This lack of consensus has important theoretical and clinical implications because inconsistent criteria and empirical disagreement can lead to misdiagnoses and interfere with the development of sound theoretical models and effective treatments to manage female genital pain and its physical and psychological sequelae.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)25-41
Number of pages17
JournalNature Reviews Urology
Volume15
Issue number1
Early online date28 Nov 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2018

Keywords

  • VULVAR VESTIBULITIS SYNDROME
  • MULTIDISCIPLINARY VULVODYNIA PROGRAM
  • PELVIC PAIN/PENETRATION DISORDER
  • COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY
  • DYADIC SEXUAL COMMUNICATION
  • SELF-REPORTED DYSPAREUNIA
  • ADULT-ONSET VULVODYNIA
  • FEAR-AVOIDANCE MODEL
  • PROVOKED VESTIBULODYNIA
  • PREMENOPAUSAL WOMEN

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