Attentional Avoidance is Associated With Increased Pain Sensitivity in Patients With Chronic Posttraumatic Pain and Comorbid Posttraumatic Stress

This study investigated AB for linguistic pain-related stimuli and trauma-related stimuli, and clinical and thermal sensitivity in patients with chronic posttraumatic pain with and without PTSD. Materials and Methods: In total, 34 patients with chronic posttraumatic cervical pain performed the visual attentional probe task assessing patterns of selective attentional responding to trauma cues and to pain cues. The task used short (500 ms) and long (1250 ms) stimulus exposure durations to ensure sensitivity to both the orienting and maintenance of attention. Heat pain threshold was assessed at the nonpainful hand. Clinical pain intensity, psychological distress (anxiety, depression, and disability), and PTSD symptomatology were assessed with questionnaires. Results: The Pain/PTSD group (N=14) demonstrated increased clinical and heat pain sensitivity as well as psychological distress compared with the Pain/No-PTSD group (N=20; P
Source: The Clinical Journal of Pain - Category: Anesthesiology Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research