Terse Summary
Fibromyalgia is a chronic and multidetermined condition that affects around 1.8% of the general adult population worldwide (Heidari et al., 2017) and greatly impacts individual and social functioning (Arnold et al., 2008; Galvez-Sánchez et al., 2019).
Many symptoms such as
widespread pain,
fatigue,
sleep impairment,
and cognitive dysfunction
Fibromyalgia is a challenging condition for patients and clinicians alike.
While I appreciate the research and useful theories of FM top doctors and PhDs. Though we find that some causes are ignored partly since untaught. And this may be why we are having success treating FM, when much smarter doctors are only helping modestly.
This article below notes depression in some with FM, and we just published a book on the top 80 depression solutions. But we often find in FM, other unexplored things as well.
He does make the useful point that meditation and other modalities have aided. Sure, lowering your anxiety set point through meditation, calm prayer, and similar actions will treat depression a percent.
He wisely researches shame and self-contempt, or the anti-valuing of self in FM. This can be a part of biological depression and core feelings related to past trauma. These may be noticed with:
Low sleep
Hostility toward you
Goals too big to achieve
Trauma
Being yelled at
Lost relationship
Despair you will never be healed
Money fear
A very small list.
Fortuna J, Pinto AM, da Silva JAP, Geenen R, Castilho P. Exploring the role of shame and self-compassion on the link between fibromyalgia symptoms and depression: Insights from mediation and moderation analyses. J Health Psychol. 2026 Jan;31(1):52-68. doi: 10.1177/13591053251331286. Epub 2025 Apr 15. PMID: 40231702; PMCID: PMC12881153.