Abstract
ObjectivesCatastrophizing is often the primary target of the cognitive-behavioral treatment of chronic pain. Recent literature on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) suggests an important role in the pain experience for the concepts mindfulness and acceptance. The aim of this study is to examine the influence of mindfulness and general psychological acceptance on pain-related catastrophizing in patients with chronic pain.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted, including 87 chronic pain patients from an academic outpatient pain center.ResultsThe results show that general psychological acceptance (measured with the AAQ-II) is a strong predictor of pain-related catastrophizing, independent of gender, age and pain intensity. Mindfulness (measured with the MAAS) did not predict levels of pain-related catastrophizing.DiscussionAcceptance of psychological experiences outside of pain itself is related to catastrophizing. Thus, acceptance seems to play a role in the pain experience and should be part of the treatment of chronic pain. The focus of the ACT treatment of chronic pain does not necessarily have to be on acceptance of pain per se, but may be aimed at acceptance of unwanted experiences in general. Mindfulness in the sense of “acting with awareness” is however not related to catastrophizing. Based on our research findings in comparisons with those of other authors, we recommend a broader conceptualization of mindfulness and the use of a multifaceted questionnaire for mindfulness instead of the unidimensional MAAS.
Highlights
Catastrophizing about pain is defined as an exaggerated negative ‘‘mental set’’ regarding actual or anticipated pain experiences [1]
When comparing the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) scores from our sample to previous research, we found that the scores in our sample were higher than Schutze et al.’s [11] chronic pain patient sample (t (88) = 4.324, p,0.001), indicating a higher level of mindfulness in our sample
We investigated the influence of mindfulness and acceptance on pain-related catastrophizing in patients with chronic pain
Summary
Catastrophizing about pain is defined as an exaggerated negative ‘‘mental set’’ regarding actual or anticipated pain experiences [1]. Catastrophizing is often the primary target of cognitivebehavioral treatment (CBT), which has become the treatment of choice for chronic pain over the past decades. A new form of behavior therapy has emerged, with an emphasis on contextual and experiential change strategies. This third generation behavior therapy is called acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) [3] and is increasingly used in the treatment of chronic pain [4]. ACT focuses in particular on the concepts of acceptance, experiential avoidance and mindfulness [5]
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