The journal of pain : official journal of the American Pain Society
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To understand when and why the provision of help by a partner of an individual with chronic pain (ICP) yields benefits, it is critical, according to self-determination theory, to consider the extent to which partners' helping responses are supportive of the basic psychological needs of the ICP, as well as the motivations underlying these helping responses. The present study (N = 141 couples), spanning 3 measurement moments over 6 months, investigated temporal associations between partners' helping motivation, ICPs' psychological needs, and ICPs' functioning across time (ie, well-being, psychological distress, and disability). Results showed that partners' autonomous or volitional helping motivation (time 1) predicted decreases in ICPs' need frustration (time 2) and ICPs' need frustration (time 2) predicted increases in ICPs' psychological distress (time 3). ⋯ Finally, the associations between ICPs' disability and both partners' helping motivation and ICPs' need-based experiences were nonsignificant. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed. Perspective: Partners' helping motivations and ICPs' psychological needs seem to be important to consider when investigating the role of spousal responses, because they could (indirectly) predict changes in the well-being and psychological distress of ICPs over time.
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Chronic pain during childhood is prevalent and costly, but the access to interdisciplinary pain care is limited. Studies investigating adults waiting for pain clinic evaluation found that symptoms and quality of life deteriorate over the waiting period, but little is known about the experience of adolescents. Therefore, we aimed to determine wait list times and the longitudinal trends of pain and physical, mental, and social health over a 12-week period. ⋯ Findings highlight the need to consider approaches to reduce wait times and provide early intervention for youths awaiting pain clinic evaluation. Perspective: This study extends the literature on the characteristics and symptom trajectories of adolescents during the wait period for interdisciplinary pain clinic evaluation, described previously only in adults with chronic pain. Findings demonstrated an average wait time of 6.5 months, during which youths' pain and physical and social health remained impaired.
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Self-distancing has been shown to alleviate emotional pain and to have potential efficacy for treating chronic pain and imagined acute pain, relative to self-immersing. This study examined the efficacy of self-distancing in relieving acute physical pain caused by a cold pressor task (CPT) in healthy adults. A total of 65 undergraduates were assigned pseudorandomly to 1 of 3 groups: 1) a self-distancing group, in which participants were instructed to "take a step back" to simulate their current painful experience as an observer, 2) a self-immersed group, in which participants' current painful experience was stimulated from the egocentric perspective, and 3) a control group, in which participants coped with pains in their spontaneous ways. ⋯ This result supports that self-distancing could relieve the acute pain induced by CPT. Perspective: This study presents a brief effective psychological intervention to manage acute pain. This result could potentially have clinical and everyday importance.
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Persistent pain conditions, including low back pain (LBP), are often accompanied by alterations in pronociceptive and antinociceptive mechanisms, as quantified by temporal summation of pain (TSP) and conditioned pain modulation (CPM). It remains unclear whether altered pain sensitivity, CPM, and/or TSP are a consequence of pain presence or determine the degree of pain development. Pressure pain sensitivity, TSP, and CPM were assessed across an episode of exercise-induced LBP maintained for several days. ⋯ The baseline TSP was associated with the peak pain intensity of the exercise-induced LBP (p < .003). Perspective: Pressure-pain sensitivity was impacted by the presence of exercise-induced LBP, whereas TSP seemed to be more stable and was instead associated with the intensity of pain developed. No significant pain-related changes or associations were observed for CPM, suggesting this measure may have less usefulness in mild musculoskeletal pain conditions.