To Örebro University

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Context insensitivity has been put forward as a potential mechanism explaining the high co-occurrence of pain and emotional distress. In the pain literature, the concept has only been introduced at a theoretical level and an assessment tool for exploring its impact is lacking. In an interpersonal setting, a core aspect of context sensitivity and insensitivity concerns when to disclose and when to avoid expressing pain and related distress. Both context insensitive disclosure and context insensitive avoidance may hamper interpersonal support and fuel the problem. This exploratory study describes an attempt to develop a self-report instrument to assess tendencies to disclose vs. avoid expressions of pain and related distress, as well as self-perceived adjustment of disclosure vs. avoidance to the context.

METHODS: A pool of items was systematically developed to assess different aspects of context insensitivity, including disclosure vs. avoidance of expression. 105 participants with persistent pain were recruited at pain rehabilitation clinics (80% of the sample) and in a university setting (20% of the sample). The participants responded to the pool of items as well as to a number of validated self-report instruments covering pain, pain-related disability, pain catastrophizing, emotion regulation tendencies, self-compassion and pain acceptance. The analyses explored the factorial structure of the initial instrument, as well as the criterion and construct validity.

RESULTS: The analyses confirmed a stable underlying structure of the initial scale, with four distinct factors explaining 64.4% of the total variance. However, the criterion and construct validity could only be confirmed for one of the factors, which contained items reflecting context insensitive avoidance of expression. Consequently, only this factor, demonstrating very good internal consistency, was kept in the final version of the instrument which was named context insensitive avoidance (CIA).

CONCLUSIONS: We found support for the final version of our instrument, capturing one prominent aspect of context insensitivity. Avoidance of expression was related to higher ratings of pain, disability, catastrophizing and suppression as well as to lower levels of self-compassion. We encourage further studies to explore the impact of context insensitive avoidance for regulating pain and associated negative emotions. Yet, more research is needed that goes beyond self-report and includes other aspects of context. It is urgent to develop systematic ways for assessing context insensitivity, as it will enhance our understanding of regulatory strategies as potential transdiagnostic mechanisms in pain and emotion.

IMPLICATIONS: This tool for assessing contextually insensitive avoidance of expression could potentially be used both clinically and in future research to advance our understanding of comorbid problems with pain and emotional distress. Further research is needed to develop methods for assessing other aspects of context insensitivity to fully understand its impact in patients suffering from pain.

In pain patients, comorbid emotional problems have been linked to negative outcomes, including suboptimaltreatment gains. Developing parsimonious and accessible treatment options is therefore important. The overarchingaim of this study was to test an internet delivered therapist guided transdiagnostic treatment withtelephone support. An adapted version of the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatments of EmotionalDisorders was used as an intervention for pain patients with residual pain problems and comorbid emotionalproblems after having received a multimodal pain rehabilitation. The study used a replicated AB single caseexperimental design (N =5; 3 females). Outcome measures were depressive and general anxiety symptoms, painintensity, pain coping problems, and diagnostic status. Feasibility measures (completion and compliance) andpatient satisfaction were also assessed. Scores on Nonoverlap of All Pairs (NAP) indicate a decrease of anxiety forthree participants and a decrease of depression for four participants. Decreases were small and did not alwaysreach statistical significance. Also, Tau-U scores could only confirm a reliable trend for one participant. Two outof four patients who were diagnosed with psychiatric disorders before treatment did no longer fulfill diagnosticcriteria posttreatment. No improvements could be seen on pain problems. The treatment was feasible and patientsatisfaction was high. Hence, while an internet delivered transdiagnostic treatment with telephone support maybe a feasible and accepted secondary intervention for pain patients with comorbid emotional problems, theeffects are unclear. The gap between high patient satisfaction and small changes in symptomatology should beexplored further.

Chronic pain is closely linked to emotional distress and patients suffering from both problems are worse off than individuals with only one of the entities. Emotion regulation has been proposed as a core transdiagnostic process which may explain the high levels of comorbidity between pain and emotional complaints. One way of regulating pain and negative emotions is in the presence of others. By sharing your personal experiences, you may get emotional support which relieves suffering. However, it is important to know where, when and with whom to share; in other terms, to be context sensitive. The opposite, context insensitivity, has been related to prolonged and exaggerated emotional distress, for instance after the death of a beloved one (Bonnano et al., 2004). The theory, importance and potential clinical implications of context sensitivity in theare a of pain and emotional distress will serve the basis for the presentation by Dr. Ida Flink, and data from an ongoing project on this topic will be presented.