Perceived Injustice as a Determinant of the Severity of Post-traumatic Stress Symptoms Following Occupational Injury.

Background: The present study assessed the role of perceived injustice in the experience and persistence of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) following work-related musculoskeletal injury.

Methods: The study sample consisted of 187 individuals who were absent from work as a result of a musculoskeletal injury. Participants completed measures of pain severity, perceived injustice, catastrophic thinking, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and disability on three occasions at three-week intervals.

The temporal relation between pain and fatigue in individuals receiving treatment for chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Background: Numerous investigations have revealed significant relations between pain and fatigue in individuals with persistent pain conditions. However, the direction of influence between pain and fatigue remains unclear. Shortcomings of design and analytic approaches used in previous research limit the nature of conclusions that can be drawn about possible causal or directional relations between pain and fatigue.

The Sequential Relation Between Changes in Catastrophizing and Changes in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Severity.

Catastrophizing has been discussed as a cognitive precursor to the emergence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms following the experience of stressful events. Implicit in cognitive models of PTSD is that treatment-related reductions in catastrophizing should yield reductions in PTSD symptoms. The tenability of this prediction has yet to be tested.

Trait Perceived Injustice Is Associated With Pain Intensity and Pain Behavior in Participants Undergoing an Experimental Pain Induction Procedure.

Recent research has revealed robust cross-sectional and prospective associations among perceived injustice, pain, disability, and depressive symptoms in patients with chronic pain. To date, research has proceeded from the assumption that perceived injustice arises as a consequence of debilitating injury or illness. However, it is possible that perceived injustice might have trait-like characteristics, persisting even in the absence of an injustice-related eliciting event.

Pain behavior mediates the relationship between perceived injustice and opioid prescription for chronic pain: a Collaborative Health Outcomes Information Registry study.

Background And Purpose: Perceived injustice has been defined as an appraisal regarding the severity and irreparability of loss associated with pain, blame and a sense of unfairness. Recent findings have identified perceived injustice as an important risk factor for pain-related outcomes. Studies suggest that perceived injustice is associated with opioid prescription in patients with pain conditions.

Pain catastrophizing predicts poor response to topical analgesics in patients with neuropathic pain.

Background: Previous research suggests that high levels of pain catastrophizing might predict poorer response to pharmacological interventions for neuropathic pain.

Objective: The present study sought to examine the clinical relevance of the relation between catastrophizing and analgesic response in individuals with neuropathic pain. Clinically meaningful reductions were defined in terms of the magnitude of reductions in pain through the course of treatment, and in terms of the number of patients whose end-of-treatment pain ratings were below 4⁄10.

Reducing catastrophic thinking associated with pain.

SUMMARY Over the past two decades increasingly compelling research has identified pain catastrophizing as an important psychological risk factor for a wide range of pain-related outcomes. In response to this literature, there have been calls for the clinical use of catastrophizing as a prognostic indicator of problematic recovery, and for the development of clinical interventions that target catastrophizing and its correlates. This article provides a review of the evidence-based assessment and management tools that are available for the clinical management of patients with elevated levels of catastrophic thinking.

Integrating psychosocial and behavioral interventions to achieve optimal rehabilitation outcomes.

Introduction: Psychosocial factors are important contributors to work disability associated with musculoskeletal conditions. The primary objectives of this paper were 1) to describe different psychosocial interventions that have been developed to prevent prolonged work disability, and 2) to identify future research directions that might enhance the impact of programs targeting psychosocial risk factors for work disability.

Methods: Selective review of scientific literature on psychosocial and behavioral interventions and work disability.