Objective: This study aimed to examine the relationships between
anhedonia, emotional expression ability and emotion regulation
difficulties in individuals diagnosed with fibromyalgia (FM).
Methods: 82 patients with FM and 80 age, gender, and educationmatched
healthy controls were included in this cross-sectional, descriptive
study. Participants completed the Sociodemographic Data Form,
Expressing Emotions Scale (EES), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation
Scale–Short Form (DERS-16), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck
Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Clinician-Administered Turkish
version of the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS-C-TR).
Results: Higher SHAPS-C-TR scores (OR=1.836, 95% CI: 1.501–
2.245; p<0.001) and BAI scores (OR=1.120, 95% CI: 1.020–1.230;
p=0.017) were significantly associated with FM diagnosis. Conversely,
higher EES scores were negatively associated with FM diagnosis
(OR=0.941, 95% CI: 0.896–0.988; p=0.015). Even after controlling
for depression, individuals with FM exhibited significantly higher
anhedonia scores (F (1.159)=295.10, p<0.001, η²=0.623).
Conclusion: Elevated levels of anhedonia and anxiety were significantly
associated with FM, whereas greater emotional expressiveness appeared
to be a protective factor. These findings underscore the importance of
psychological assessment and interventions in FM management.
Keywords: Anhedonia, emotional expression, emotion regulation
difficulty, fibromyalgia