Patient beliefs about pain diagnosis in chronic pelvic pain: relation to pain experience, mood and disability.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the contribution of pain beliefs (fear regarding pain diagnosis) in understanding pain experience, mood, affective distress, marital interactions surrounding pain, and functional disability among women with chronic pelvic pain (CPP).

STUDY DESIGN

One hundred forty-nine consecutive females with CPP presenting to a university hospital Chronic Pain Clinic completed self-report inventories assessing demographic status, pain-related morbidity, depressive symptoms and global affective distress. Pain beliefs were assessed by subject response to the question "Do you think your pain is due to something more serious or different from what doctors have told you?" and subjects were categorized into "Yes More Serious" (n = 77) and "Not More Serious" (n = 72) groups.

RESULTS

Subjects who believed they had "something more serious" as a cause for their pain reported more severe pain intensity (p < 0.05) and pain experience (p < 0.05), greater suffering due to pain (p = 0.01), a less attentive spouse/family member when in pain (p < 0.05), more severe pain disability (p < 0.05), and greater affective distress (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

These findings provide further evidence for the psychological distress and functional disability that may result when CPP patients possess concerns,fears and possible misattributions regarding the cause of their pelvic pain.