1) To know previous psychiatric disorders in patients diagnosed of Fibromyalgia (FM), 2) To identify the different medical specialists that make the diagnosis of FM, 3) Which specialist(s) are in charge of the patient's follow-up, and 4) To asses working status before/after the diagnosis of FM.

77 women (mean: 57.3 yo) that were being treated at our psychiatric unit and who were later diagnosed (2002-2006) as having FM by an array of specialists. Variables studied: year of diagnoses, specialist/s involved, psychiatric diagnosis and social/demographic parameters.

80.5% of patients (62/77) manifested a somatoform disorder (SD), 79.2% (61/77) a mood disorder, or a personality disorder 22.1% (17/77). The FM diagnosis was made by rheumatologists (37.7%), traumatologists (24.7%) and general practitioners (19.5%). Mostly, psychiatrists took care of the patient's follow-up (94.8%); either exclusively (55.8%) or shared with other specialists (39.0%). Before FM diagnoses, 80.5% of the patients were working as housewives or elsewhere versus 16.9% of them that were out of work or on sick-leave due to their long-lasting illness. Following the FM diagnosis, these figures changed to 46.8% and 40.3%, respectively.

Most of the FM cases had been previously diagnosed as having a SD. The FM diagnoses is made by specialists other than psychiatrists. However, the patient's follow-up corresponds to the later. The diagnosis of FM facilitates the attainment of a long-term disease status and their consequences thereof. These facts raise the necessity to review this disease, from the nosological, therapeutic and diagnostic point of view.