Departamento de Personalidad, Evaluación y Tratamiento Psicológico, Facultad de Psicología y Logopedia, Universidad de Málaga, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas de Málaga (IBIMA), Málaga, Spain.
Pain Med. 2022 Sep 30;23(10):1793-1799. doi: 10.1093/pm/pnac030.
Substantial empirical evidence has shown that intolerance of uncertainty is a central transdiagnostic feature in psychopathology and it has been suggested to be a pain-related psychological factor contributing to the experience of chronic pain. However, research in this area is virtually nonexistent. The objective of this study was to investigate associations between pain severity, catastrophizing, and anxiety in people with chronic nononcological pain, while assuming that intolerance of uncertainty moderates these relationships.
A convenience sample of 188 individuals with nononcological chronic pain (157 women and 32 men) participated in the study. We investigated the moderated mediation of intolerance of uncertainty between anxiety and catastrophizing and between catastrophizing and pain intensity.
The full moderated mediation model accounted for significant variance in pain intensity (R2 = 0.148, P< .001). Intolerance of uncertainty significantly moderated the interaction between anxiety and catastrophizing (B = 0.039, SE = 0.012, 95% CI [0.015, 0.063]) and between catastrophizing and pain intensity (B = -0.034, SE = 0.010, 95% CI [-0.054, -0.014]). Anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty did not interact in predicting catastrophizing, although an interaction effect was found between intolerance of uncertainty and catastrophizing in predicting pain intensity.
This study is the first to address the interrelationship of intolerance of uncertainty, catastrophizing, and anxiety in relation to perceived pain intensity. The current findings support intolerance of uncertainty as a relevant psychological variable that is distinct from other relevant constructs in the setting of pain research and treatment.
大量实证证据表明，无法容忍不确定性是精神病理学中的一个核心跨诊断特征，并且有人认为它是导致慢性疼痛体验的与疼痛相关的心理因素。然而，这一领域的研究几乎不存在。本研究的目的是调查慢性非癌性疼痛人群中疼痛严重程度、灾难化和焦虑之间的关系，同时假设无法容忍不确定性调节这些关系。
本研究采用方便样本，共纳入 188 名患有慢性非癌性疼痛的个体（157 名女性和 32 名男性）。我们调查了无法容忍不确定性在焦虑与灾难化之间以及灾难化与疼痛强度之间的调节中介作用。
完全调节中介模型解释了疼痛强度的显著差异（R2=0.148，P<.001）。无法容忍不确定性显著调节了焦虑与灾难化（B=0.039，SE=0.012，95%置信区间[0.015，0.063]）以及灾难化与疼痛强度（B=-0.034，SE=0.010，95%置信区间[-0.054，-0.014]）之间的交互作用。焦虑和无法容忍不确定性在预测灾难化方面没有相互作用，尽管在预测疼痛强度方面发现了无法容忍不确定性和灾难化之间的交互作用效应。
本研究首次探讨了无法容忍不确定性、灾难化和焦虑之间的相互关系与感知疼痛强度的关系。目前的研究结果支持将无法容忍不确定性作为一个相关的心理变量，该变量在疼痛研究和治疗中与其他相关构念不同。
