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Pain and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in refugees who survived torture: The role of pain catastrophizing and trauma-related beliefs.

Nordin, Linda LU and Perrin, Sean LU orcid (2019) In European Journal of Pain 23(8). p.1497-1506
Abstract
Background
Traumatized refugees with comorbid pain report more severe posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), respond less well to PTSD-focused treatments, and exhibit greater disability. A mutually maintaining relationship may exist between pain and PTSD, that may be partly accounted for by depression, but no prior studies have tested this assumption in traumatized refugees.
Method
Self-report measures of pain, PTSD, depression, disability, pain catastrophizing (PC), and trauma-related beliefs (TRBs) were administered to 197 refugees referred to the Danish Institute Against Torture (DIGNITY) prior to treatment. The contribution of pain, depression, PC, and TRBs to the overall variance in PTSD severity was examined. We also... (More)
Background
Traumatized refugees with comorbid pain report more severe posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), respond less well to PTSD-focused treatments, and exhibit greater disability. A mutually maintaining relationship may exist between pain and PTSD, that may be partly accounted for by depression, but no prior studies have tested this assumption in traumatized refugees.
Method
Self-report measures of pain, PTSD, depression, disability, pain catastrophizing (PC), and trauma-related beliefs (TRBs) were administered to 197 refugees referred to the Danish Institute Against Torture (DIGNITY) prior to treatment. The contribution of pain, depression, PC, and TRBs to the overall variance in PTSD severity was examined. We also examined whether the relationship between pain and PTSD was mediated by PC and TRBs, after controlling for depression.
Results
Depression, pain severity, PC, and TRBs together accounted for 66% of the overall variance in PTSD, with depression being the primary contributor (57%). In univariate tests, both PC and TRBs significantly mediated the relationship between pain interference/severity and PTSD. However, after controlling for depression only PC mediated this relationship.
Conclusions
Negative beliefs about pain and the trauma made small, but additive contributions to the relationship between pain and PTSD severity, after controlling for depression. Longitudinal studies with refugees, involving tests of more complex mutual maintenance models, are warranted.
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Torture, refugees, PTSD, pain, pain catastrophizing, trauma-related beliefs, mutual maintenance models, mediation
in
European Journal of Pain
volume
23
issue
8
pages
1497 - 1506
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85067451287
  • pmid:31095807
ISSN
1532-2149
DOI
10.1002/ejp.1415
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ed354f8e-0ad2-46f7-8510-60a69e1ef71f
date added to LUP
2019-05-10 15:48:47
date last changed
2022-04-25 23:28:26
@article{ed354f8e-0ad2-46f7-8510-60a69e1ef71f,
  abstract     = {{Background<br/>Traumatized refugees with comorbid pain report more severe posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), respond less well to PTSD-focused treatments, and exhibit greater disability. A mutually maintaining relationship may exist between pain and PTSD, that may be partly accounted for by depression, but no prior studies have tested this assumption in traumatized refugees.<br/>Method <br/>Self-report measures of pain, PTSD, depression, disability, pain catastrophizing (PC), and trauma-related beliefs (TRBs) were administered to 197 refugees referred to the Danish Institute Against Torture (DIGNITY) prior to treatment. The contribution of pain, depression, PC, and TRBs to the overall variance in PTSD severity was examined. We also examined whether the relationship between pain and PTSD was mediated by PC and TRBs, after controlling for depression.<br/>Results <br/>Depression, pain severity, PC, and TRBs together accounted for 66% of the overall variance in PTSD, with depression being the primary contributor (57%). In univariate tests, both PC and TRBs significantly mediated the relationship between pain interference/severity and PTSD. However, after controlling for depression only PC mediated this relationship.<br/>Conclusions <br/>Negative beliefs about pain and the trauma made small, but additive contributions to the relationship between pain and PTSD severity, after controlling for depression. Longitudinal studies with refugees, involving tests of more complex mutual maintenance models, are warranted. <br/>}},
  author       = {{Nordin, Linda and Perrin, Sean}},
  issn         = {{1532-2149}},
  keywords     = {{Torture; refugees; PTSD; pain; pain catastrophizing; trauma-related beliefs; mutual maintenance models; mediation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  pages        = {{1497--1506}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{European Journal of Pain}},
  title        = {{Pain and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in refugees who survived torture: The role of pain catastrophizing and trauma-related beliefs.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ejp.1415}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/ejp.1415}},
  volume       = {{23}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}