We examined whether narratives related to mental health and pain in 120 women with endometriosis. Participants wrote narratives about endometriosis, rated the narratives on centrality to identity and positive and negative self-change, and completed measures of depressive symptoms, life-satisfaction, pain intensity and pain symptoms. Narratives were content-coded for themes of agency and communion. Higher centrality to identity, more negative self-change, and lower agency and communion were related to poorer mental health. Higher centrality to identity was associated with more pain symptoms. Narrative measures predicted mental health beyond pain intensity, pain symptoms, and neuroticism. The results indicate that how women with endometriosis narrate their illness is connected to mental health.

我们研究了120例子宫内膜异位症患者的叙述是否与心理健康和疼痛相关。参与者撰写了有关子宫内膜异位症的叙述，对叙述的中心性以身份认同以及积极和消极的自我改变进行了评级，并完成了抑郁症状，生活满意度，疼痛强度和疼痛症状的测量。叙述内容是针对代理和交流主题编码的。更高的身份认同中心，更多的负面自我改变，较低的代理和交流与较差的心理健康有关。对身份的高度集中与更多的疼痛症状相关。叙述性措施预测了除疼痛强度，疼痛症状和神经质之外的心理健康。结果表明，子宫内膜异位症妇女如何叙述自己的疾病与心理健康有关。