Chronic pain syndrome associated with health anxiety: a qualitative thematic comparison between pain patients with high and low health anxiety

The British Journal of Clinical Psychology
Nicole K Y TangJoan Hester

Abstract

Based on the high prevalence of health anxiety among patients with chronic pain and the conceptual overlap between the diagnostic criteria for hypochondriasis and pain disorder, it has been suggested that the cognitive-behavioural theory of severe and persistent health anxiety can be applied to understand the problems presented by a subgroup of chronic pain patients. This study aimed to provide qualitative data to complement the progress of the existing experimental research and theory development. A cross-sectional design with two groups was adopted. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 60 chronic pain patients seeking medical treatment from a specialist clinic, and theoretical thematic analysis was performed on a subset of interview transcripts drawn from the five most health anxious and the five least health anxious of this sample. Five themes emerged from the analysis, and they concerned (1) pain appraisal, (2) pain preoccupation, (3) coping strategies, (4) self-identity, and (5) suicidal ideation. Differences were observed between the health anxious and non-health anxious pain patients consistently across all these themes. The phenomenological information both informs and supports the idea that the cogni...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jul 1, 2011·Pain Management·Melanie J EdwardsCarolyne M Timberlake
Dec 17, 2016·The Clinical Journal of Pain·Swati MehtaRobert W Teasell
Jan 3, 2018·Qualitative Health Research·Gregg H RawlingsMarkus Reuber
Aug 10, 2020·BMC Psychology·Geoffrey S Rachor, Alexander M Penney
Jul 23, 2015·The Clinical Journal of Pain·Nicole K Y TangPolly Ashworth
May 26, 2018·British Journal of Pain·Charlotte E Hazeldine-BakerJeremy Gauntlett-Gilbert
Feb 4, 2021·Physical Therapy·Angela PontifexJudith A Thompson

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