In this experiment, we tested for opioid and nonopioid mechanisms of pain control through cognitive means and the relation of opioid involvement to perceived coping efficacy. Subjects were taught cognitive methods of pain control, were administered a placebo, or received no intervention. Their pain tolerance was then measured at periodic intervals after they were administered either a saline solution or naloxone, an opiate antagonist that blocks the effects of endogenous opiates. Training in cognitive control strengthened perceived self-efficacy both to withstand and to reduce pain; placebo medication enhanced perceived efficacy to withstand pain but not reductive efficacy; and neither form of perceived self-efficacy changed without any intervention. Regardless of condition, the stronger the perceived self-efficacy to withstand pain, the longer subjects endured mounting pain stimulation. The findings provide evidence that attenuation of the impact of pain stimulation through cognitive control is mediated by both opioid and nonopioid mechanisms. Cognitive copers administered naloxone were less able to tolerate pain stimulation than were their saline counterparts. The stronger the perceived self-efficacy to reduce pain, the greater was the opioid activation. Cognitive copers were also able to achieve some increase in pain tolerance even when opioid mechanisms were blocked by naloxone, which is in keeping with a nonopioid component in cognitive pain control. We found suggestive evidence that placebo medication may also activate some opioid involvement. Because placebos do not impart pain reduction skills, it was perceived self-efficacy to endure pain that predicted degree of opioid activation.

ResumeCet article fait £tat d'unc serie d'etudes reliees a 1'adaptation canadienne-franc.aise de la plus recente version du State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) de Spielberger (1983), la forme «Y». Dans 1'ensemble, les donn^es confirment la qualite de la traducrion de J'inventaire qui, en frangais, porte le nom d'lnventaire d'Anxiete Situationnelle et de Trait d'Anxiete (IASTA-Y). De plus, les analyses portant sur la fidelite et la validite de construit demontrent que les qualites psychometriques de I'IASTA-Y sont comparables a celles du STAI-Y. linfin, des normes d'interprelation sont presentees sous forme de rangs centiles et de scores T pour chacune des deux echelles de l'inventaire, soit l'echelle d'anxiete situationnelle et l'echelle de trait d'anxiete.

Because there is a large overlap between HIV manifestations and somatic symptoms of anxiety and depression, it is crucial to use measures that do not contain somatic items to validly and reliably assess these psychological states in HIV-infected patients. The purpose of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), a questionnaire that does not include any somatic items, in HIV-seropositive individuals. Because the study was conducted among French Canadian individuals, the quality of the translation was 1st subjectively and empirically assessed. Then, the psychometric properties of the HADS were evaluated in 162 HIV-seropositive patients, who, in addition to the HADS, also completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The French Canadian version used was found to be subjectively and empirically equivalent to the original English version. Moreover, results of this study demonstrated a bifactorial structure with factors corresponding to the HADS subscales, an excellent internal consistency and test-retest reliability, a very good convergent validity, and an acceptable discriminant validity. Strikingly, in contrast to the BDI, HADS scores were found to be unconfounded by the presence of HIV symptomatology. The HADS appears to represent the best currently available self-report scale to reliably and validly assess anxiety and depression in HIV-infected patients. The HADS is simple and brief to administer (14 items) and may therefore be easily implemented in routine HIV care.

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