Pain and illness behaviour: A comparative study

Abstract

A 52-item Illness Behaviour Questionnaire (I.B.Q.) was administered to 100 patients referred for the management of pain that had not responded adequately to conventional treatment. A comparison group of 40 patients attending rheumatology, radiotherapy, pulmonary, and physiotherapy clinics, that reported pain as a prominent symptom, also completed the I.B.Q. Responses of the two groups were scored on the seven scales of the I.B.Q. measuring general hypochondriasis, disease conviction, somatic versus psychological perception of illness, affective inhibition, affective disturbance, denial, and irritability. A significant difference emerged on the second scale indicating that patients with intractable pain were more convinced as to the presence of disease, were somatically preoccupied, and could not seem to accept reassurance from a doctor. These attitudes were unrelated to degree of organic pathology. It was suggested that this response pattern may be most usefully conceptualised as a form of “abnormal illness behaviour”.