Adolescent Girls' Musculoskeletal Pain is More Affected by Insomnia Than Boys, and Through Different Psychological Pathways.

Prior research has established that insomnia is predictive of pain in adolescents and that psychological mechanisms have a crucial role in this relationship. Adolescent girls report more insomnia and pain than boys, yet little is known of gender differences in how insomnia influences pain. This study assessed gender differences in levels and trajectories of insomnia and pain during adolescence, and whether rumination and negative mood mediated the effect of insomnia on pain.

Can the robot "see" what I see? Robot gaze drives attention depending on mental state attribution.

Mentalizing, where humans infer the mental states of others, facilitates understanding and interaction in social situations. Humans also tend to adopt mentalizing strategies when interacting with robotic agents. There is an ongoing debate about how inferred mental states affect gaze following, a key component of joint attention.

Age-Related Differences in the Perception of Robotic Referential Gaze in Human-Robot Interaction.

Unlabelled: There is an increased interest in using social robots to assist older adults during their daily life activities. As social robots are designed to interact with older users, it becomes relevant to study these interactions under the lens of social cognition. Gaze following, the social ability to infer where other people are looking at, deteriorates with older age.

Sleep phase and pre-sleep arousal predicted co-developmental trajectories of pain and insomnia within adolescence.

The onset of both chronic pain and insomnia is high during adolescence. Although a bidirectional relationship between pain and insomnia has support, how pain and sleep co-develop throughout adolescence remains unknown. Sleep-wake patterns, pre-sleep behavior and pre-sleep arousal may influence the co-development of pain and insomnia.

Longitudinal, bidirectional relationships of insomnia symptoms and musculoskeletal pain across adolescence: the mediating role of mood.

Previous studies have established a bidirectional relationship between sleep and pain, and mood has been proposed as a mediator of this relationship. There are only a limited number of longitudinal studies examining the mediational role of mood, and the directionality of effects between sleep, pain, and mood is uncertain. In addition, despite the high prevalence of pain and sleep problems during adolescence, these relationships have rarely been examined in a longitudinal sample of adolescents.

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.

Winning or not losing? The impact of non-pain goal focus on attentional bias to learned pain signals.

Background and aims Insights into the nature of cognitive bias, including attentional bias to threat signals, are considered pivotal to understanding (chronic) pain and related distress. It has been put forward that attention to pain-related threat is normally dynamic and relates to the motivational state of the individual. In this experiment we aimed (i) to replicate the finding that attentional bias for pain signals in healthy participants can be reduced when a non-pain goal is pursued, and (ii) to extend this finding by taking into account the outcome focus of the non-pain goal.

Effects of activity interruptions by pain on pattern of activity performance - an experimental investigation.

Background And Aims: Suspending an ongoing activity with the intention to resume it again later is a natural response to pain. This response facilitates coping with the pain, but it may also have negative consequences for the resumption and performance of the activity. For example, people with pain problems are often forced to take a break from doing their household chores because of their pain.

Cognitive behavioral therapy for irritable bowel syndrome: the effects on state and trait anxiety and the autonomic nervous system during induced rectal distensions - An uncontrolled trial.

Background And Aims: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), is a common multifactorial gastrointestinal disorder linked to disturbances in the microbe gut-brain axis. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), in face-to-face format has showed promising results on IBS and its associated psychological symptoms. The present study explored for the first time if CBT for IBS affects the autonomic nervous system (ANS) during experimentally induced visceral pain and cognitive stress, respectively.

Activity interruptions by pain impair activity resumption, but not more than activity interruptions by other stimuli: an experimental investigation.

Interrupting ongoing activities whilst intending to resume them later is a natural response to pain. Whereas this response facilitates pain management, at the same time it may also disrupt task performance. Previous research has shown that activity interruptions by pain impair subsequent resumption of the activity, but not more than pain-irrelevant interruptions.

Taking a break in response to pain. An experimental investigation of the effects of interruptions by pain on subsequent activity resumption.

Background And Aims: Interrupting ongoing activities with the intention to resume them again later is a natural response to pain. However, such interruptions might have negative consequences for the subsequent resumption and performance of the interrupted activity. Activity interruptions by pain may be more impairing than interruptions by non-painful stimuli, and also be subjectively experienced as such.

Effects of validating communication on recall during a pain-task in healthy participants.

Background: Increasing recall of instructions and advice in a pain consultation is important, since it is a prerequisite for adherence to treatment recommendations. However, interference due to pain-related distress may result in poor recall. Whereas there are some indications that recall can be increased by empathic communication that reduces interference, this interesting possibility remains largely untested experimentally.

Face-to-Face Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: The Effects on Gastrointestinal and Psychiatric Symptoms.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a gastrointestinal disorder linked to disturbances in the gut-brain axis. Visceral hypersensitivity and pain are hallmarks of IBS and linked to the physiological and psychological burden and to the nonadaptive coping with stress. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for IBS has proven effective in reducing gastrointestinal and psychiatric symptoms in IBS by means of coping with stress.

Exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy for irritable bowel syndrome. A single-case experimental design across 13 subjects.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a highly prevalent disorder with a significant impact on quality of life. The presence of psychological symptoms in IBS patients such as catastrophic worry and behavioral avoidance suggests the possible efficacy of cognitive behavioral interventions. Exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has proven to be a promising approach but has only been investigated in a few studies and mainly via the Internet.

Sub-optimal presentation of painful facial expressions enhances readiness for action and pain perception following electrocutaneous stimulation.

Observation of others' painful facial expressions has been shown to facilitate behavioral response tendencies and to increase pain perception in the observer. However, in previous studies, expressions were clearly visible to the observer and none of those studies investigated the effect of presence of peripheral stimulation on response tendencies. This study focuses on the effect of sub-optimal presentation of painful facial expressions in the presence and absence of an electrocutaneous stimulus.

An experimental examination of catastrophizing-related interpretation bias for ambiguous facial expressions of pain using an incidental learning task.

Individuals with pain-related concerns are likely to interpret ambiguous pain-related information in a threatening manner. It is unknown whether this interpretation bias also occurs for ambiguous pain-related facial expressions. This study examined whether individuals who habitually attach a catastrophic meaning to pain are characterized by negative interpretation bias for ambiguous pain-related facial expressions.

When pain meets … pain-related choice behavior and pain perception in different goal conflict situations.

Unlabelled: Individuals in pain often face the choice between avoiding pain and pursuing other equally valued goals. However, little is known about pain-related choice behavior and pain perception in goal conflict situations. Seventy-eight healthy volunteers performed a computerized task requiring repeated choices between incompatible options, differing in their effect on probability to receive painful stimulation and money.

Attention effects on vicarious modulation of nociception and pain.

The observation of others' facial expressions of pain has been shown to facilitate the observer's nociceptive responses and to increase pain perception. We investigated how this vicarious facilitation effect is modulated by directing the observer's attention toward the meaning of pain expression or the facial movements. In separate trials, participants were instructed to assess the "intensity of the pain expression"(meaning) or to "discriminate the facial movements" in the upper vs lower part of the face shown in 1-second dynamic clips displaying mild, moderate, or strong pain expressions or a neutral control.

Pain catastrophizing, threat, and the informational value of mood: task persistence during a painful finger pressing task.

Pain catastrophizing has shown to predict avoidance behavior in acute and chronic pain, but the literature is inconsistent. The present study tested the hypothesis that current mood and threat context moderate the relationship between pain catastrophizing and performance duration. Affective-motivational models postulate that negative and positive moods provide information about whether an activity is respectively threatening or safe.

Nonpain goal pursuit inhibits attentional bias to pain.

Although dealing with pain is a vital goal to pursue, most individuals are also engaged in the pursuit of other goals. The aim of the present experiment was to investigate whether attentional bias to pain signals is inhibited when one is pursuing a concurrent salient but nonpain task goal. Attentional bias to pain signals was measured in pain-free volunteers (n=63) using a spatial cueing task with pain cues and neutral cues.

Psychological interventions for chronic pain: reviewed within the context of goal pursuit.

SUMMARY In contemporary psychological interventions for chronic pain, cognitive-behavioral therapy takes a central role, covering a broad range of techniques and aims. To improve the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy and to refine its components, new theoretical approaches may help understand and arrange the mechanisms underlying pain perception, behavior and suffering. This article reviews processes of change in cognitive-behavioral therapies for chronic pain within the context of goal pursuit.

Operant learning theory in pain and chronic pain rehabilitation.

The application of operant learning theory on chronic pain by Fordyce has had a huge impact on chronic pain research and management. The operant model focuses on pain behaviors as a major component of the pain problem, and postulates that they are subject to environmental contingencies. The role of operant learning in pain behaviors generally has been supported by experimental studies, which are reviewed in the present article.