Journal of behavioral medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Anger management style and endogenous opioid function: is gender a moderator?
This study explored possible gender moderation of previously reported associations between elevated trait anger-out and reduced endogenous opioid analgesia. One hundred forty-five healthy participants underwent acute electrocutaneous pain stimulation after placebo and oral opioid blockade in separate sessions. Blockade effects were derived reflecting changes in pain responses induced by opioid blockade. ⋯ The anger-in/opioid association was partially due to overlap with anger-out, but the converse was not true. These findings provide additional evidence of an association between trait anger-out and endogenous opioid analgesia, but further suggest that gender may moderate these effects. In contrast to past work, anger-in was related to reduced opioid analgesia, although overlap with anger-out may contribute to this finding.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Attentional strategy moderates effects of pain catastrophizing on symptom-specific physiological responses in chronic low back pain patients.
In the present study, we examined whether experimentally-manipulated attentional strategies moderated relations between pain catastrophizing and symptom-specific physiological responses to a cold-pressor task among sixty-eight chronic low back patients. Patients completed measures of pain catastrophizing and depression, and were randomly assigned to sensory focus, distraction or suppression conditions during a cold pressor. Lumbar paraspinal and trapezius EMG, and cardiovascular responses to the cold pressor were assessed. ⋯ Depressed affect did not account for this relation. These findings indicate that 'symptom-specific' responses among pain catastrophizers with chronic low back depend on how they attend to pain-related information. Specifically, it appears that efforts to suppress awareness of pain exaggerate muscular responses near the site of injury.