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Emotional Aspects of Chronic Pain

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Pain, Emotion and Cognition

Abstract

Emotions and chronic pain are deeply entangled. Emotions can predispose to or modulate pain. Various factors pertaining to negative affectivity can contribute to pain intensity and chronicity, as well as to its disabling consequences. In the last decade, advances in neurosciences have indisputably confirmed the clinical evidence of pain as an experience involving sensory and emotional components, emphasizing the essential role of brain structures related to motivation and emotions, pointing to central sensitization or to epigenetic influences on affect regulation disorder. Contemporary theories call upon integrative models that reflect the history and personal vulnerabilities as much as the emotional and cognitive factors that may influence pain. In patients with chronic pain, interpersonal dimensions also received renewed interest, and in particular attachment or somatization and alexithymia as specific modes of expressing emotions. Therapeutic approaches increasingly emphasize motivation as well as acceptance of pain and goal achievement despite the presence of pain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of General Medical Rehabilitation – Beau-Sejour, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland

    Anne-Françoise Allaz & Christine Cedraschi

  2. Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Multidisciplinary Pain Centre, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland

    Christine Cedraschi

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  1. Anne-Françoise Allaz
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  2. Christine Cedraschi
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Correspondence to Anne-Françoise Allaz .

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  1. Clinical Pharmacology Department, University Hospital CIC Inserm1405, Clermont-Ferrand, France

    Gisèle Pickering

  2. Clinical Research Division, Royal Melbourne Hospital National Ageing Research Institute, Victoria, Australia

    Stephen Gibson

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Allaz, AF., Cedraschi, C. (2015). Emotional Aspects of Chronic Pain. In: Pickering, G., Gibson, S. (eds) Pain, Emotion and Cognition. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12033-1_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12033-1_2

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