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Pain centrality mediates pain self‐efficacy and symptom severity among individuals reporting chronic pain
Author(s) -
Sucher Jillian,
Quenstedt Stella R.,
Parnes McKenna F.,
Brown Adam D.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.23012
Subject(s) - chronic pain , anxiety , pain catastrophizing , depression (economics) , psychology , centrality , clinical psychology , psychiatry , mental health , mathematics , combinatorics , economics , macroeconomics
Chronic pain is consistently associated with the presence of mental health disorders. Although previous research has shown relations between low levels of self‐efficacy with chronic pain severity as well as comorbid mental health symptoms, the link between self‐efficacy and mental health symptoms in chronic pain is not well understood. This study examined whether pain centrality, the extent to which pain is viewed as central to self‐identity, may underlie these associations. Individuals with a diagnosis of chronic pain ( N = 89) recruited through MTurkcompleted self‐report measures including demographics, self‐efficacy, pain centrality, pain severity, depression, and anxiety. Pain severity was associated with higher levels of pain centrality, depression, anxiety, and lower levels of self‐efficacy. Path analysis demonstrated pain centrality significantly mediated the relationship between self‐efficacy and pain severity, depression, and anxiety. Future studies would benefit from testing whether modifying pain centrality beliefs shift perceptions of control as well as pain and psychological outcomes.