Anxiety and Anticipated Pain Levels of Women With Self-Reported Penetration-Related Genito-Pelvic Pain are Elevated in Response to Pain-related Images.

Background: Genito-pelvic pain (GPP) affects a sizable minority of women and results of existing treatments can be variable. A method of general pain treatment that has not yet been extended to penetration-related GPP is Explicit Motor Imagery (EMI), which uses pain-related images to help individuals with pain alter their responses to pain, resulting in reduced pain, less pain-related anxiety, and improved function.

Aim: As a first step toward determining if EMI is a feasible method for treating penetration-related GPP, this study examined whether images that potentially signal genital pain are sufficient to induce an anxiety or anticipated pain response in women.