Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Metaphor, frequently used in chronic pain, can function as a communicative tool, facilitating understanding and empathy from others. Previous research has demonstrated that specific linguistic markers exist for areas such as pain catastrophizing, mood, as well as diagnostic categories. The current study sought to examine potential associations between the types of pain metaphors used and diagnostic category, disability, and mood. ⋯ There may be specific linguistic metaphorical markers to indicate pain interference and for particular diagnoses. Appreciation of pain metaphors has potential to facilitate communication and enhance understanding in interactions between clinicians and people with chronic pain.
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African American older adults living in disadvantaged communities are disproportionately burdened by disabling pain. To address their needs, we tested the feasibility and potential effects of a cognitive-behavioral chronic pain self-management program delivered by community health workers. ⋯ An intervention combining mobile health tools with support from community health workers holds promise for improving pain outcomes among underserved older adults.
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Observational Study
Profiles of Risk and Resilience in Chronic Pain: Loneliness, Social Support, Mindfulness, and Optimism Coming out of the First Pandemic Year.
Individuals experience chronic pain differently, not only because of different clinical diagnoses, but also because of differing degrees of influence from biopsychosocial pain modulators. We aimed to cluster patients with chronic pain into distinct subgroups based on psychosocial characteristics and pain intensity, and we subsequently examined group differences in pain-related interference approximately 1 year later. ⋯ An empirical psychosocial-based clustering of patients identified three distinct groups that differed in pain interference. Patients with high psychosocial modulation of pain at the onset of social distancing (the PSP cluster) suffered not only greater pain interference but also greater loneliness and lower levels of mindfulness and optimism, which suggests some potential behavioral targets for this group in the future.