Abstract
Considerable evidence has linked catastrophizing to pain responses, and recent experimental pain research has suggested that situational catastrophizing, measured during or immediately following 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 impact 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. Employing 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 non-dominant hand of 38 healthy participants. Situation-specific catastrophizing and pain ratings were obtained at Early (0-15 minutes), Mid (15-30 minutes) and Final (30-35 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 while 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.
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