Abstract
Considerable evidence has linked catastrophizing to pain responses, and recent experimental
pain research has suggested that situational catastrophizing, measured during or immediately
after laboratory pain procedures, is strongly related to pain ratings of standardized
noxious stimuli. However, given that most experimental pain protocols involve “static”
assessments of pain ratings and catastrophizing at a single time point, the direction
by which these factors may affect each other remains unclear. Does catastrophizing
influences one's subsequent pain responses or do individual differences in the perceived
severity of pain lead to differential rates of catastrophizing? Little is known regarding
the course of these variables. Using a cross-lagged panel analysis, we evaluated whether
changes in situation-specific catastrophizing preceded changes in laboratory-induced
pain responses, or vice versa, during tonic capsaicin pain stimulation. Topical application
of a 10% capsaicin cream was applied to the dorsal aspect of the nondominant hand
of 38 healthy participants. Situation-specific catastrophizing and pain ratings were
obtained at Early (0 to 15 minutes), Mid (15 to 30 minutes), and Final (30 to 35 minutes)
periods during capsaicin pain. Analyses revealed that Early-to-Mid changes in catastrophizing
ratings prospectively accounted for unique variance in subsequent Mid-to-Final changes
in pain ratings, whereas Early-to-Mid changes in pain ratings did not account for
unique variance in Mid-to-Final changes in catastrophizing ratings. That is, participants
who showed the largest initial increases in catastrophizing reported the greatest
subsequent increases in pain. Controlling for the reported change in stress did not
affect this pattern of results. These findings provide empirical evidence that a situation-specific
catastrophizing process might precede and contribute to subsequent increases in pain
experience. Limitations of the present study and possible future research directions
are discussed.
Perspective
The present study adds to a growing literature on prospective associations between
catastrophizing and pain. These results provide initial evidence, in healthy individuals,
that changes in catastrophizing may precede changes in pain response.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 20, 2010
Accepted:
December 11,
2009
Received in revised form:
December 7,
2009
Received:
July 7,
2009
Footnotes
Supported by NIH grant AT001433 and with resources from F32 NS06362.
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
