Browsing by Subject "catastrophizing"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Catastrophizing, pain, and functional outcomes for children with chronic pain: a meta-analytic review
    (Wolters Kluwer, 2018-07) Miller, Megan M.; Meints, Samantha M.; Hirsh, Adam T.; Psychology, School of Science
    Pediatric chronic pain is associated with numerous negative outcomes including increased physical disability, increased rates of depression and anxiety, and decreased quality of life (QOL). Pain catastrophizing–broadly conceptualized as including rumination, magnification, and helplessness cognitions surrounding one's pain–has been linked with poor functional outcomes in children with chronic pain. Pain catastrophizing in pediatric chronic pain is often considered a key factor on which to focus treatment efforts. However, absent a systematic review that integrates the relevant literature, this call for routine assessment and targeted treatment may be premature. This study aimed to: (1) meta-analytically quantify the relationship between catastrophizing and pain and functional/psychosocial outcomes (functional disability/physical functioning, anxiety, depression, and QOL) in children with chronic pain, and (2) examine potential moderators of these relationships. Using a random-effects model, a total of 111 effect sizes from 38 studies were analyzed. Effect sizes ranged from medium to large, with anxiety, depression, and QOL demonstrating a strong association with catastrophizing. Pain intensity and physical disability had a moderate association with catastrophizing. These relationships were robust, minimizing potential publication bias. None of the examined moderators were significant. The strong relationships found between catastrophizing and anxiety, depression, and QOL suggest that successfully intervening on catastrophizing could have far reaching implications in improving pain outcomes in pediatric chronic pain.
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    In-vivo praying and catastrophizing mediate the race differences in experimental pain sensitivity
    (Elsevier, 2015-05) Meints, Samantha M.; Hirsh, Adam T.; Department of Psychology, IU School of Science
    Black individuals have a lower tolerance for experimental pain than white individuals. Black and white individuals also differ in their use of pain coping strategies, which may explain the race differences in pain sensitivity. We examined the extent to which situation-specific pain coping mediated black-white differences in pain sensitivity. We hypothesized that 1) black participants would demonstrate lower pain tolerance than white participants, 2) black participants would use different pain coping strategies than white participants, and 3) the differential use of these strategies would mediate the relationship between race and pain tolerance. Healthy college undergraduates (N = 190) participated in a cold pressor task and then completed the Coping Strategies Questionnaire–Revised to assess their situation-specific pain coping. Compared with white participants, black participants demonstrated lower pain tolerance, engaged in more situation-specific catastrophizing and praying, and ignored pain less frequently. Catastrophizing and praying were inversely related to pain tolerance and were significant mediators of the relationship between race and pain tolerance. The indirect effect of praying was stronger than that of catastrophizing. Race differences in pain sensitivity may be due, in part, to differences in the use of catastrophizing and praying as coping strategies. These results may help guide treatments addressing maladaptive pain coping.
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    Pain Catastrophizing Mediates and Moderates the Link Between Acute Pain and Working Memory
    (Elsevier, 2021-08) Procento, Philip M.; Rand, Kevin L.; Stewart, Jesse C.; Hirsh, Adam T.; Psychology, School of Science
    The bidirectional relationship between pain and working memory (WM) deficits is well-documented but poorly understood. Pain catastrophizing—exaggerated, negative cognitive and emotional responses toward pain—may contribute to WM deficits by occupying finite, shared cognitive resources. The present study assessed the role of pain catastrophizing as both a state-level process and trait-level disposition in the link between acute pain and WM. Healthy, young adults were randomized to an experimentally-induced ischemic pain or control task, during which they completed verbal and non-verbal WM tests. Participants also completed measures of state- and trait-level pain catastrophizing. Simple mediation analyses indicated that participants in the pain group (vs. control) engaged in more state-level catastrophizing about pain, which led to worse verbal and non-verbal WM. Moderated mediation analyses indicated that the indirect (mediation) effect of state-level pain catastrophizing was moderated by trait-level pain catastrophizing for both verbal and non-verbal WM. Participants in the pain group who reported a greater trait-level tendency to catastrophize about pain experienced greater state-level catastrophizing about pain during the ischemic task, which led to worse verbal and non-verbal WM performance. These results provide evidence for pain catastrophizing as an important mechanism and moderating factor of WM deficits in acute pain. Future research should replicate these results in chronic pain samples, investigate other potential mechanisms (e.g., sleep disturbances), and determine if interventions that target pain catastrophizing directly can ameliorate cognitive deficits in people with pain. Perspective This article presents a laboratory study examining the relationships among pain, pain catastrophizing, and working memory in healthy participants. The results shed new light on these relationships and raise the possibility that interventions that reduce catastrophizing may lead to improved cognitive function among people with pain.
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    Pain-Related Rumination, But Not Magnification or Helplessness, Mediates Race and Sex Differences in Experimental Pain
    (Elsevier, 2017-03) Meints, Samantha M.; Stout, Madison; Abplanap, Samuel; Hirsh, Adam T.; Department of Psychology, School of Science
    Compared with white individuals and men, black individuals and women show a lower tolerance for experimental pain stimuli. Previous studies suggest that pain catastrophizing is important in this context, but little is known about which components of catastrophizing contribute to these race and sex differences. The purpose of the current study was to examine the individual components of catastrophizing (rumination, magnification, and helplessness) as candidate mediators of race and sex differences in experimental pain tolerance. Healthy undergraduates (N = 172, 74% female, 43.2% black) participated in a cold pressor task and completed a situation-specific version of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale. Black and female participants showed a lower pain tolerance than white (P < .01, d = .70) and male (P < .01, d = .55) participants, respectively. Multiple mediation analyses indicated that these race and sex differences were mediated by the rumination component of catastrophizing (indirect effect = −7.13, 95% confidence interval (CI), −16.20 to −1.96, and 5.75, 95% CI, .81–15.57, respectively) but not by the magnification (95% CI, −2.91 to 3.65 and −1.54 to 1.85, respectively) or helplessness (95% CI, −5.53 to 3.31 and −.72 to 5.38, respectively) components. This study provides new information about race and sex differences in pain and suggests that treatments targeting the rumination component of catastrophizing may help mitigate pain-related disparities.