Journal of psychosomatic research
-
Alexithymia is elevated among patients with chronic pain, but the relationship of alexithymia to the severity of pain among chronic pain patients is unclear. Also, studies have rarely examined whether alexithymia is unique from other, more widely studied constructs in the chronic pain literature (i.e., self-efficacy, catastrophizing, and depression), and research has not examined how alexithymia relates to the sensory versus affective dimensions of pain. ⋯ Although alexithymia is not related to the sensory component of pain, it is correlated positively with the affective or unpleasantness component of pain, independent of self-efficacy or catastrophizing. The emotional regulation deficits of alexithymia may lead to depression, which appears to mediate alexithymia's relationship to affective pain. Alexithymia's relationship with physical impairment appears to be better accounted for by self-efficacy or catastrophizing.
-
The purpose of this study was to explore whether self-reported whiplash traumas were associated with increased prevalence of anxiety disorder and depression. A cross-sectional design (N = 61,110) based on data from the health study (HUNT-II) was used. ⋯ Some of the association between whiplash traumas and anxiety and depression is due to neck pain and headache. Two different explanations, the "memory bias" and the "attribution" hypothesis, are discussed as explanations of these results.