Highlights
- •Greater optimism predicts less inhibition of suprathreshold pain in a conditioned pain modulation paradigm.
- •Optimism effects on the modulation of threshold-level and suprathreshold pain differ.
- •Stress and coping mechanisms may influence modulation of suprathreshold pain.
- •Optimism may affect endogenous central nervous system inhibition of clinical pain.
Abstract
Optimism is associated with lower pain sensitivity, positive adjustment to chronic
pain, and greater reduction of pain thresholds in a conditioned pain modulation (CPM)
paradigm. We hypothesized that participants with higher levels of optimism would experience
greater inhibition of suprathreshold pain during CPM. Seventy-seven healthy adults
completed a test of optimism, the Life Orientation Test-Revised, as well as measures
of depression, pain catastrophizing, and neuroticism. Participants also underwent
psychophysical tests of heat pain tolerance, heat pain threshold, and CPM. CPM magnitude
was calculated as the change in heat pain ratings when applied alone and simultaneously
with painful pressure. Greater optimism was significantly correlated with reduced
CPM magnitude (P = .013). Regression analysis was performed using optimism as a predictor of CPM magnitude
while controlling for pain catastrophizing, neuroticism, depression, and age. The
overall model was significant (P = .003). Significant positive coefficients were found for depression (P = .014) and optimism (P < .001) scores. These results suggest that greater optimism predicts less inhibition
of suprathreshold pain, the opposite of our hypothesis. This unexpected finding may
be due to factors such as perceived stress and coping differences, and suggests that
modulation of threshold-level and suprathreshold pain involves different underlying
mechanisms.
Perspective
This article reports that greater optimism predicts less inhibition of suprathreshold
pain, in contrast with previous work showing that optimism correlates positively with
pain threshold reductions. These findings suggest that the association between optimism
and the function of endogenous pain modulatory systems is complex and differs for
threshold-level and suprathreshold pain.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 13, 2018
Accepted:
August 28,
2018
Received in revised form:
August 16,
2018
Received:
March 13,
2018
Footnotes
This research was funded by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County through the Department of Psychology and a SRAIS award to Raimi L. Quiton from the Vice President of Research.
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Supplementary data accompanying this article are available online at www.jpain.org and www.sciencedirect.com.
Identification
Copyright
© Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the American Pain Society
