Examining the Effects of Pessimism and Optimism on Depressive Symptoms and Pain Characteristics in Chronic Low Back Pain

Abstract

Chronic low back pain (cLBP) is one of the leading causes of pain for millions of Americans. Recent growing literature suggests that individuals with cLBP may have elevated symptoms of depression. Optimism and pessimism are aspects of human personality related to generalized outcome expectancies for the future. Both are also associated with physical and psychological outcomes including depressive symptoms and pain characteristics. However, there is little information on how optimism and pessimism may affect depressive symptoms and pain characteristics in cLBP. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of pessimism and optimism on pain characteristics and depressive symptoms in individuals with cLBP and pain-free controls. Participants included individuals with cLBP (N=185) and pain-free controls (N=74). All were given a battery of questionnaires to assess dispositional optimism and pessimism, depressive symptoms, and pain characteristics. Sociodemographic factors (age, sex, race) that influence pain were also addressed. Analyses revealed that pessimism (F=47.3, p< .001), and pain-status (cLBP vs. pain-free) (F=25.6 p< .001) significantly covaried with depressive symptoms, suggesting increased pessimism and having cLBP are associated with elevated depressive symptoms. Participants' race (F=6.5, p=.011), and pessimism (F=14.5, p<.001) significantly covaried with pain intensity, suggesting that non-Hispanic Black racial background, having cLBP, and increased pessimism are associated with elevated pain intensity. Relative to optimism, pessimism seemed to be more influential for individuals' depressive symptom reports and pain intensity in this study. These findings are significant because they may present the opportunity to target depressive symptoms and pain outcomes in specific vulnerable populations regarding the influence of pessimism. Future studies examining these relationships should determine if pessimism elicits a hyperalgesic response, and the impact it can have on depressive symptoms in other chronic pain populations may be warranted. This work was supported by Examining Racial And SocioEconomic Disparities in cLBP; ERASED; R01MD010441.