Stress Appraisal, Stress Mindset, and Perceived Pain During a Cold Pressor Test.

Background: Previous studies demonstrated that task-specific stress appraisals as well as the more general belief that stress is (mal)adaptive (i.e., stress mindset) can affect the stress response.

Development and validation of the General attitude towards Medication Questionnaire (GAMQ).

Background: Attitudes towards medication can affect treatment outcomes and adherence through mechanisms such as placebo and nocebo effects. Questionnaires assessing both negative and positive attitudes towards medication in general, which can be used across a variety of settings and in both patient and non-patient samples, are however lacking. To fill this gap, we developed and validated the General Attitude towards Medication Questionnaire (GAMQ).

The Interrelationships Between Cognitive Biases for Pain: An Experimental Study.

Contemporary pain models highlight cognitive-processing biases (ie, attention bias [AB], interpretation bias [IB], and memory bias [MB]) as key processes that contribute to poor pain outcomes. However, existing research has yielded inconsistent findings regarding the presence and impact of these biases on pain outcomes. Recognizing the need to explore these biases simultaneously, contemporary pain models suggest that cognitive biases (CBs) are interrelated, and may have a combined impact upon pain problems.

The effect of induced optimism on early pain processing: indication by contact heat evoked potentials (CHEPs) and the sympathetic skin response (SSR).

Situationally induced optimism has been shown to influence several components of experimental pain. The aim of the present study was to enlarge these findings for the first time to the earliest components of the pain response by measuring contact heat evoked potentials (CHEPs) and the sympathetic skin response (SSR). Forty-seven healthy participants underwent two blocks of phasic thermal stimulation.

Can perioperative psychological interventions reduce chronic pain after surgery?

Chronic post-surgical pain is a relatively common adverse effect following surgery. Several prognostic factors for chronic post-surgical pain have been identified, including psychological states and traits. Psychological factors are modifiable, and perioperative psychological interventions may reduce the incidence of chronic post-surgical pain.

The effect of experimentally induced positive affect on the generalization of pain-related avoidance and relief.

Avoiding pain-associated activities can prevent tissue damage. However, when avoidance spreads excessively (or overgeneralizes) to safe activities, it may culminate into chronic pain disability. Gaining insight into ways to reduce overgeneralization is therefore crucial.

Shifting the perspective: how positive thinking can help diminish the negative effects of pain.

Objectives: The field of pain psychology has taken significant steps forward during the last decades and the way we think about how to treat chronic pain has radically shifted from a biomedical perspective to a biopsychosocial model. This change in perspective has led to a surge of accumulating research showing the importance of psychological factors as determinants for debilitating pain. Vulnerability factors, such as pain-related fear, pain catastrophizing and escape/avoidant behaviours may increase the risk of disability.

The effectiveness and equivalence of different versions of a brief online Best Possible Self (BPS) manipulation to temporary increase optimism and affect.

Background And Objectives: The Best Possible Self (BPS) has been found to be an effective manipulation to temporarily improve optimism and affect. The BPS has been used in different formats. In some versions, participants just write about their best possible future, while in others this is combined with imagery.

The effect of perioperative psychological interventions on persistent pain, disability, and quality of life in patients undergoing spinal fusion: a systematic review.

Purpose: Patients undergoing spinal fusion are prone to develop persisting spinal pain that may be related to pre-existent psychological factors. The aim of this review was to summarize the existing evidence about perioperative psychological interventions and to analyze their effect on postoperative pain, disability, and quality of life in adult patients undergoing complex surgery for spinal disorders. Studies investigating any kind of psychological intervention explicitly targeting patients undergoing a surgical fusion on the spine were included.

Increased positive affect is associated with less generalization of pain-related avoidance.

Fear-avoidance models of chronic pain consider excessive spreading (or overgeneralization) of pain-related avoidance toward safe activities to play a crucial role in chronic pain disability. This study (N = 96) investigated whether avoidance generalization is mitigated by positive affect induction. Pain-free, healthy participants performed an arm-reaching task during which certain movements were followed by pain, while another was not.

AMAZONE: prevention of persistent pain after breast cancer treatment by online cognitive behavioral therapy-study protocol of a randomized controlled multicenter trial.

Background: Surviving breast cancer does not necessarily mean complete recovery to a premorbid state of health. Among the multiple psychological and somatic symptoms that reduce the quality of life of breast cancer survivors, persistent pain after breast cancer treatment (PPBCT) with a prevalence of 15-65% is probably the most invalidating. Once chronic, PPBCT is difficult to treat and requires an individualized multidisciplinary approach.

The Effect of Induced Optimism on Situational Pain Catastrophizing.

Background: There is broad evidence that optimism is associated with less pain, while pain catastrophizing leads to increased pain. The aim of this study was to examine whether experimentally induced optimism can reduce situational pain catastrophizing and whether this relation is moderated by dispositional optimism and/or dispositional pain catastrophizing.

Methods: Situational pain catastrophizing during two thermal stimulations was measured in 40 healthy participants with the .

Can perioperative psychological interventions decrease the risk of postsurgical pain and disability? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Many patients experience pain after surgery. Psychological factors such as emotion and cognition are shown to be associated with the development of acute and chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP). Therefore, the question arises whether targeting these psychological factors can reduce negative postsurgical outcomes.

Healthcare use during COVID-19 and the effect on psychological distress in patients with chronic cardiopulmonary disorders in the Netherlands: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic caused a massive shift in the focus of healthcare. Such changes could have affected health status and mental health in vulnerable patient groups. We aimed to investigate whether patients with chronic pulmonary and cardiac diseases had experienced high levels of psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands.

The effect of optimism on the facial expression of pain: Implications for pain communication.

Background: There is a broad range of evidence on optimism dampening the pain experience, as assessed by subjective self-report. Facial expression of pain conveys supplementary information about the pain experience, is an integral part of pain communication and assists psychosocial pain coping. Nevertheless, the effect of induced optimism on facial activity during pain has to our knowledge not been examined.

The effects of yoga on functionality appreciation and additional facets of positive body image.

This study investigated the effects of yoga on functionality appreciation, and the potential mechanisms that could explain the impact of yoga on additional facets of positive body image. Young adult women (N = 114; M = 22.19) were randomised to a 10-week Hatha yoga programme or waitlist control group.

Exploring Changes in Activity Patterns in Individuals with Chronic Pain.

This longitudinal study explored whether activity patterns change over time in a sample of 56 individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain over a 15-day period. Once a day, the participants recorded their level of pain intensity and the degree to which they had engaged in several specific activity patterns. Linear mixed models with random coefficients were used to investigate the rate of change in the activity patterns.

Imagining a positive future reduces cortisol response to awakening and reactivity to acute stress.

The positive influence of optimism on health is thought to be due in part to a reduced physiological response to stress, as manifested for instance in activity of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) systems. Results of previous studies support the notion that dispositional optimism can influence diurnal cortisol secretion as well as cortisol reactivity. The aim of the present study was to examine whether induced optimism can similarly affect HPA activity and thereby potentially have beneficial health effects.

Pain psychology in the 21st century: lessons learned and moving forward.

Background and aims In the spring of 2019, Professor Steven J. Linton, the founder of the Center for Health and Medical Psychology (CHAMP) at Örebro University, Sweden, formally retired. As a tribute to his scholarly work covering decades of influence and inspiration to the field of pain psychology, the research center organized a topical conference titled "Pain in the 21st century: Where do we come from and where are we going?", which resulted in this state-of the-art synthesis.

Using vignettes to assess the contribution of goal adjustment in the adaptation to chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Purpose: The quality of life of individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain partly depends on their capacity to adjust their personal goals. Vignettes have been rarely used to assess this ability. Therefore, this study aimed to test the relationships between vignettes assessing different goal strategies and chronic pain adaptation (i.