Symptom severity in burning mouth syndrome associates with psychological factors.

Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) patients are psychologically distressed, but whether this associates with symptom severity is unclear. The aim was to investigate the association of psychological factors with pain intensity and interference in BMS. Fifty-two women (mean age 63.

The relationship between anger regulation, mood, pain, and pain-related disability in women treated for breast cancer.

Objective: Anger, depressive symptoms, and anxiety are known reactions to cancer and suggested to modulate pain experience. We examined the association between anger regulation, mood, and pain in 952 breast cancer patients followed for 3 years.

Methods: Preoperatively, the patients completed questionnaires about depressive symptoms (BDI), state anxiety (STAI), anger regulation (STAXI-2), and pains in the surgical and other areas.

Machine-learning-derived classifier predicts absence of persistent pain after breast cancer surgery with high accuracy.

Background: Prevention of persistent pain following breast cancer surgery, via early identification of patients at high risk, is a clinical need. Supervised machine-learning was used to identify parameters that predict persistence of significant pain.

Methods: Over 500 demographic, clinical and psychological parameters were acquired up to 6 months after surgery from 1,000 women (aged 28-75 years) who were treated for breast cancer.

Does expecting more pain make it more intense? Factors associated with the first week pain trajectories after breast cancer surgery.

The aim of this study was to identify clinical risk factors for unfavorable pain trajectories after breast cancer surgery, to better understand the association between pain expectation, psychological distress, and acute postoperative pain. This prospective study included 563 women treated for breast cancer. Psychological data included questionnaires for depressive symptoms and anxiety.

Diagnosing Depression in Chronic Pain Patients: DSM-IV Major Depressive Disorder vs. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).

Background: Diagnosing depression in chronic pain is challenging due to overlapping somatic symptoms. In questionnaires, such as the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), responses may be influenced more by pain than by the severity of depression. In addition, previous studies have suggested that symptoms of negative self-image, a key element in depression, are uncommon in chronic pain-related depression.

Pain in 1,000 women treated for breast cancer: a prospective study of pain sensitivity and postoperative pain.

Background: This article describes the methods and results of the early part (experimental pain tests and postoperative analgesia) of a study that assesses genetic and other factors related to acute pain and persistent pain after treatment of breast cancer in a prospective cohort of 1,000 women.

Methods: One thousand consenting patients were recruited to the study. Before surgery (breast resection or mastectomy with axillary surgery), the patients filled in questionnaires about health, life style, depression (Beck Depression Inventory), and anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory).

Temperament traits and chronic pain: the association of harm avoidance and pain-related anxiety.

Objective: Anxiety symptoms are common in chronic pain patients. High levels of anxiety are associated with increased pain experience and disability. Proneness to anxiety has a large interindividual variation.

Pain and pain behavior in burning mouth syndrome: a pain diary study.

Aims: To characterize pain related to primary burning mouth syndrome (BMS) in terms of intensity, interference, and distress caused by the pain, as well as factors influencing the pain across a period of 2 weeks, and to study the use of coping and management strategies on a daily basis.

Methods: Fifty-two female patients with primary BMS completed a 2-week pain diary. Pain intensity, interference, distress, and mood on a 0 to 10 numeric rating scale (NRS), as well as pain amplifying and alleviating factors, were recorded three times a day.

Psychiatric disorders as assessed with SCID in chronic pain patients: the anxiety disorders precede the onset of pain.

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in patients referred to a tertiary pain clinic. The temporal relationship between the onset of pain and depression and anxiety and the association of psychiatric disorders with pain intensity were also analyzed.

Method: One hundred consecutive outpatients underwent a psychiatric assessment using the Structured Clinical Interview and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Axis I.

Pain intensity influences the relationship between anger management style and depression.

There is an abundance of studies concerning depression and pain, while the mechanisms and the relationships of anger expression and pain are less well known. The validity of commonly used depression questionnaires as measures of depression in pain patients has been questioned, as they include items which can be related to the pain problem as well as to signs of depression. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between pain severity, various signs of depression, and anger management style.