• Mary C Davis, Kirti Thummala, and Alex J Zautra.
• Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 1104, Tempe, AZ, 85287-1104, USA, mary.davis@asu.edu.
• Ann Behav Med. 2014 Aug 1; 48 (1): 61-70.

BackgroundChronic pain with comorbid depression is characterized by poor mood regulation and stress-related pain.PurposeThis study aims to compare depressed and non-depressed pain patients in mood and pain stress reactivity and recovery, and test whether a post-stress positive mood induction moderates pain recovery.MethodsWomen with fibromyalgia and/or osteoarthritis (N = 110) underwent interpersonal stress and were then randomly assigned by pain condition and depression status, assessed via the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale, to positive versus neutral mood induction.ResultsDepression did not predict stress-related reactivity in despondency, joviality, or clinical pain. However, depression × mood condition predicted recovery in joviality and clinical pain; depressed women recovered only in the positive mood condition, whereas non-depressed women recovered in both mood conditions.ConclusionsDepression does not alter pain and mood stress reactivity, but does impair recovery. Boosting post-stress jovial mood ameliorates pain recovery deficits in depressed patients, a finding relevant to chronic pain interventions.

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