Study designs of evaluations included in the review
Studies comparing the treatment group with a non-psychologically treated control group (waiting group, attention placebo group) or a supportive therapy group, with a follow-up data collection of at least a year, were eligible for inclusion.
Specific interventions included in the review
Studies of treatments based on psychodynamic approaches, such as addressing unconscious motives and relationship aspects with the methods of clarification or settlement, confrontation and interpretation, and considering transference and counter transference, were eligible for inclusion in the review. Studies that incorporated psychodynamic therapy only within a multimodal treatment strategy were excluded.
Participants included in the review
Studies of patients with chronic intractable pain for more than 6 months, or with chronic or chronic-relapsing non-malignant pain, were eligible. The patients in the included studies were treated for somatoform abdominal pain, pain with various localisations, and chronic pelvic pain and dysuria.
Outcomes assessed in the review
The reviewers did not specify any inclusion criteria for the outcomes. The individually analysed effects on pain symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, dysuria, anxiety, posture relief, depression, number of doctor consultations, disability, and activity and/or emotional distress were presented for the included studies. The assessment methods varied (e.g. visual analogue scales).
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
The authors did not state how the papers were selected for the review, or how many reviewers performed the selection.