Self‐compassion predicting pain, depression and anger in people suffering from chronic pain: A prospective study

Abstract

Self‐compassion is associated with disability, pain‐related anxiety as well as depression and anger in patients with chronic pain. However, the unique value of self‐compassion versus other concepts such as psychological flexibility and self‐esteem is unknown. The present study therefore aimed to clarify these relationships. Individuals with chronic pain (N_CP  = 872) and without chronic pain (N_NP  = 356) took part in a longitudinal study. Participants completed self‐report instruments: Pain Disability Index (PDI), Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), Pain Anxiety Symptom Scale (PASS‐20), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ‐9), State Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI), Self‐Compassion Scale (SCS), Psychological Inflexibility in Pain Scale (PIPS) and Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale (RSES). Assessments were repeated after 8 weeks. We found differences in baseline levels of all relevant variables except for anger‐out and anger‐control between people with and without chronic pain. Subsequently, we computed a path model analysis regarding individuals suffering from chronic pain (N _CP), addressing the predictive value of reduced uncompassionate self‐responding (RUS), compassionate self‐responding (CS), avoidance (PIPS), cognitive fusion (PIPS) and self‐esteem (RSES) regarding pain‐related (PDI, PCS, PASS) and emotional variables (PHQ‐9, STAXI). Avoidance predicted disability, catastrophizing, anxiety and depression. RUS predicted catastrophizing and pain‐related anxiety. Self‐esteem predicted depression. CS and cognitive fusion had no unique predictive value. The model explained 65.4%‐72.1% of the variance in pain‐related variables, 68.7% of the variance in depression and 38.7%‐60.7% in the variance of anger‐related variables. In conclusion, psychological flexibility, in terms of avoidance, seems to be more relevant for chronic pain than self‐compassion. Future research should focus on subgroups and tailored‐treatment approaches.

Significance

Applying a longitudinal design, this study examined the predictive value of self‐compassion regarding pain, depression and anger. The relevance of self‐compassion was compared to psychological flexibility and self‐esteem. We can conclude that psychological flexibility, in terms of avoidance behaviour, is the most relevant predictor concerning pain.

from Wiley: European Journal of Pain: Table of Contents https://ift.tt/2D7FpYc
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