Unpredictable pain timings lead to greater pain when people are highly intolerant of uncertainty

Conclusions Our results show that IU moderately correlates to the change in pain intensity provoked by unpredictable stimulation timings. High IU scores were associated with a worsening of the subjective pain experience, especially during long delays in an unpredictable situation. These observations suggest that IU could be considered as a psychological variable that is able to influence pain perception in certain situations. Implications Assessing and addressing IU could be an added value in pain-related therapy, especially in chronic pain.
Source: Scandinavian Journal of Pain - Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: research