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The following is a summary of “Relationship among emotion regulation and pain catastrophizing in chronic pain patients,” published in the February 2024 issue of Pain by Yuan, et al.

Studies suggest a link between pain catastrophizing (PC), where individuals dwell on and magnify pain, and difficulties with emotion regulation (ER), potentially worsening pain perception.

Researchers started a retrospective study to investigate if ER worsens pain perception through PC.

They recruited 150 adults who had chronic pain lasting more than 3 months and were taking opioid medication for non-cancer pain from a large medical center in Pennsylvania. A series of questionnaires was administered to collect demographic data, substance use, mental health history, and health and pain outcomes. The measures included the 18-item Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BPI-SF), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). They conducted a structural equation model with latent variables to investigate their objective.

The results showed significant positive correlations between both pain interference and severity with various psychosocial aspects, including anxiety, depression, constructs related to ER, PC, and distress intolerance. Notably, the associations with pain interference exhibited greater magnitude than those with pain severity. PC served as a complete mediator in the pathways from ER to pain experiences.

Investigators concluded that chronic pain patients with negative emotions and thinking patterns about pain showed worsened pain through increased catastrophizing, suggesting emotional management might be key.

Source: academic.oup.com/painmedicine/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/pm/pnae009/7610889