Behavioral treatment of chronic pain: The spouse as a discriminative cue for pain behavior

Abstract

Twenty married chronic pain patients (pain duration > 8 mo.) consecutively admitted to a pain management program were administered a taped structured interview designed to elucidate the responses of their spouses to pain behavior. Additionally, patients were required to report their pain levels in two different observational conditions: when observed by their spouse and when observed by a "neutral observer", the ward clerk. Those patients who reported that their spouses were relatively non-solicitous in responding to pain behavior reported significantly lower pain levels in the spouse-observing condition than in the neutral-observer condition. Patients who reported that their spouses were relatively solicitous in responding to pain behavior reported marginally higher levels of pain in the spouse-observing condition than in the neutral-observer condition.

Marital and Family Issues in Patients with Chronic Pain

“…Presence of depression among the spouses of chronic pain patients has also been noted and the notion that presence of a sick individual can provide homeostasis within a family system is a concept that has been around for some time [27,33], Reference was also made earlier to the 'undesirable mutuality' that was noted between a group of chronic pain patients and the family members [29]. That kind of commu nication was found to be a major reinforcer of the patient's pain condition which received some corroboration in recent reports [1,9,25].…”

“…Block et al [1] noted that patients with a solicitous spouse reported a marginally higher level of pain than nonsolicitous spouses. They concluded that the study 'demonstrates that chronic pain patients systematically alter the report of pain level depending on their perception of spousal response to pain behavior and whether they believe the spouse to be observing the report'.…”

Prevalência e relação de fatores emocionais e clínicos em pacientes com discopatia degenerativa

“…Porém, existem processos emocionais que ajudam na recuperação, como a boa capacidade de enfrentamento, ou seja, pensamentos, sentimentos e comportamentos específicos do indivíduo para lidar com a dor de forma adaptativa 32 , mostrando resultados animadores para pacientes com dores de coluna que utilizam essas ferramentas aliadas à esperança e ao afastamento de pensamentos catastróficos 33,34 . Pelo que pudemos observar no presente trabalho, há uma alta prevalência de desesperança entre os pacientes com dor lombar crônica, fato que pode vir a atrapalhar os resultados clínicos no período pós-cirúrgico.…”

Attributions About Pain as Predictors of Psychological Symptomatology, Sexual Function, and Dyadic Adjustment in Women with Vestibulodynia

“…More specifically, studies from the chronic pain field show that psychosocial factors explain a great proportion of the variance in the functionality of patients, independent of their pain intensity (Block, Kremer, & Gaylor, 1980;Flor, Kerns, & Turk, 1987;Kielcolt-Glazer & Newton, 2001;Romano et al, 1995;Schiaffino & Revenson, 1995;Turk & Feldman, 1992). However, very few studies have focused on the psychosocial predictors and sequelae of vestibulodynia.…”