Cognitive Distortions of Somatic

The article reports oil tile revision of tile Cognitive Errors Questionnaire (CEQ). The CEQ which was originally developed to measure cognitive distortions specific to chronic pain, has been significantly shortened and made applicable to a wider range of somatic problems. The Cognitive Errors Questionnaire Revised (CEQ-R) contains two subscales: Somatic-distortions specific to somatic experiences; and General-distortions to everyday life events. Validation of the scale with CFS, depressed, and chronic pain groups crud healthy controls confirms the CEQ-R loads onto general and somatic factors. Both subscales Dave high internal consistency and good test-retest reliability. 'File pattern of subjects' responses to tire CEQ-R scores showed that the depressed group scored significantly higher on the General CEQ-R scale than tile other groups, whereas the CFS and chronic pain groups scored higher than healthy controls on the Somatic CEQ-R. Somatic CEQ-R scores showed a significant decrease over tile course of a pain management program, with a concomitant decrease in disability and depression scores. Further analyses showed the Somatic CEQ-R to be significantly related to self and symptom focusing, whereas the General CEQ-R was found to be significantly correlated with higher depression, lower self-esteem, and self focusing. The CEQ-R may be a useful instrument to examine the relationship between cognitive distortions and disability in a variety of illnesses, and to differentiate primary depression from overlapping somatic disorders. © 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.