Conrod Patricia J
Department of Psychological Medicine, Section of Addiction, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK.
Cogn Behav Ther. 2006;35(4):216-25. doi: 10.1080/16506070600898587.
This study examined the specificity of the relationship between anxiety sensitivity (AS), a measure of catastrophizing about arousal-related sensations, and pain responses, by examining the effect of AS on responses to stressors of a physical and social nature. Healthy men and women (n = 129) between the ages of 18 and 25 years were recruited from the community to participate in a study examining subjective, cognitive and behavioural responses to different types of stressors. Participants were randomly assigned to one of 3 groups: (i) a neutral condition in which they sat quietly and read a popular magazine; (ii) a social stress condition in which they anticipated having to give a self-disclosing speech; and (iii) a physical stress condition in which they were presented with 3 countdown to shock trials where a mild electrical shock was administered on the non-dominant arm. Subjective ratings and physiological responses were recorded in anticipation of the stressor and immediately after stress exposure. Results indicated that AS was indirectly related to pain ratings via its effect on anticipatory anxiety ratings. AS was associated with anticipatory anxiety ratings, regardless of whether the stressor was of a physical or social nature. Furthermore, AS was not shown to be directly associated with exaggerated subjective or physiological reactions to the physical stressor. These results indicate that the role of AS in pain responses may be mediated through a global effect on anxiety, and limited to the anticipatory stage of the pain experience. If future studies yield similar findings in pain patients, then they would suggest that interventions for helping individuals high in AS should focus on catastrophic thinking in anticipation of stressors in general, rather than on pain-specific stressors.
本研究通过考察焦虑敏感性（AS，一种对与唤醒相关感觉的灾难化衡量指标）对身体和社会性质应激源反应的影响，检验了AS与疼痛反应之间关系的特异性。从社区招募了129名年龄在18至25岁之间的健康男性和女性，参与一项考察对不同类型应激源的主观、认知和行为反应的研究。参与者被随机分配到3组之一：（i）中性条件，即安静地坐着阅读一本流行杂志；（ii）社会应激条件，即预期要进行一次自我表露演讲；（iii）身体应激条件，即进行3次电击倒计时试验，在非优势手臂施加轻度电击。在预期应激源时和应激暴露后立即记录主观评分和生理反应。结果表明，AS通过其对预期焦虑评分的影响与疼痛评分间接相关。无论应激源是身体性质还是社会性质，AS都与预期焦虑评分相关。此外，未显示AS与对身体应激源的过度主观或生理反应直接相关。这些结果表明，AS在疼痛反应中的作用可能通过对焦虑的整体影响来介导，并且仅限于疼痛体验的预期阶段。如果未来研究在疼痛患者中得出类似结果，那么这将表明，帮助AS水平高的个体的干预措施应总体上侧重于预期应激源时的灾难化思维，而不是针对特定疼痛的应激源。
