Abstract
Participants displaying high versus low levels of experiential avoidance as assessed by the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (Hayes, Strosahl, et al., 2004) were compared in their reactions to and efforts to cope with pain induced by the cold pressor task. As expected, high avoidant participants were less tolerant of pain and more likely to report using dysfunctional coping strategies, but did not differ from their low avoidant counterparts in their sensitivity to pain nor ratings of its intensity. Implications of the findings for the assessment, further investigation, and conceptualization of experiential avoidance as a possible core pathogenic process are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (2002). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. American Psychologist, 57, 1060–1073.
BECK, A. T., RUSH, A. J., SHAW, B. F., & EMERY, G. (1979). Cognitive therapy of depression. New York: Guilford.
BERNSTEIN, E., & PUTNAM, F. (1986). Development, reliability, and validity of a dissociation scale. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 174, 727–735.
BIGLAN, A., & HAYES, S. C. (1996). Should the behavioral sciences become more pragmatic? The case for functional contextualism in research on human behavior. Applied and Preventive Psychology: Current Scientific Perspectives, 5, 47–57.
COHEN, J. (1977). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (rev. ed.). New York: Academic Press.
DAHL, J., WILSON, K. G., & NILSSON, A. (2004). Evaluation of an Act-based intervention for persons at risk for long-term disability resulting from pain and stress symptoms: A preliminary randomized trial. Behavior Therapy, 35, 785–801.
DEGOOD, D. E. (2000). Relationship of pain-coping strategies to adjustment and functioning. In R. J. Gatchel & J. E. Weisberg (Eds.), Personality characteristics of patients with pain (pp. 129–164). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
FELDNER, M. T., ZVOLENSKY, M. J., EIFERT, G. H., & SPIRA, A. P. (2003). Emotional avoidance: An experimental test of individual differences and response suppression using biological challenge. Behavior Research and Therapy, 41, 403–411.
GEISER, D. (1992). A comparison of acceptance-focused and control-focused interventions in a chronic pain treatment center. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Nevada, Reno.
GEISSER, M. E., ROBINSON, M. E., & PICKREN, W. E. (1992). Differences in cognitive coping strategies among pain-sensitive and pain-tolerant individuals on the cold-pressor test. Behavior Therapy, 23, 31–41.
HAYES, S. C. (1987). A contextual approach to therapeutic change. In N. S. Jacobson (Ed.), Psychotherapists in clinical practice: Cognitive and behavioral perspectives (pp. 327–387). New York: Guilford.
HAYES, S. C. (1993). Goals and varieties of scientific contextualism. In S. C. Hayes, L. J. Hayes, T. R. Sarbin, & H. W. Reese (Eds.), The varieties of scientific contextualism (pp. 11–27). Reno, NV: Context Press.
HAYES, S. C. (1994). Content, context, and the types of psychological acceptance. In S. C. Hayes, N. S. Jacobson, V. M. Follette, & M. J. Dougher (Eds.), Acceptance and change: Content and context in psychotherapy (pp. 13–32). Reno, NV: Context Press.
HAYES, S. C., BISSETT, R. T., KORN, Z., ZETTLE, R. D., ROSENFARB, I. S., COOPER, L. D., & GRUNDT, A. M. (1999). The impact of acceptance versus control rationales on pain tolerance. The Psychological Record, 49, 33–47.
HAYES, S. C., HAYES, L. J., & REESE, H. W. (1988). Finding the philosophical core: A review of Stephen C. Pepper’s World Hypotheses. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 50, 97–111.
HAYES, S. C., MASUDA, A., BISSETT, R., LUOMA, J., & GUERRERO, L. F. (2004). DBT, FAP, and ACT: How empirically oriented are the new behavior therapy technologies? Behavior Therapy, 35, 35–54.
HAYES, S. C., STROSAHL, K. D., & WILSON, K. W. (1999). Acceptance and commitment therapy: An experiential approach to behavior change. New York: Guilford.
HAYES, S. C., STROSAHL, K., WILSON, K. G., BISSET, R. T., PISTORELLO, J., TOARMINO, D., et al. (2004). Measuring experiential avoidance: A preliminary test of a working model. The Psychological Record, 54, 553–578.
HAYES, S. C., WILSON, K. G., GIFFORD, E. V., FOLLETTE, V. M., & STROSAHL, K. (1996). Experiential avoidance and behavioral disorders: A functional dimensional approach to diagnosis and treatment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 1152–1168.
HINES, E. A., & BROWN, G. E. (1932). A standard stimulus for measuring vasomotor reactions: Its application to the study of hypertension. Proceedings of the Staff Meetings of the Mayo Clinic, 7, 332.
KEEFE, F. J., CALDWELL, D. S., QUEEN, K. T., GIL, K. M., MARTINEZ, S., CRISSON, J. E., OGDEN, W., & NUNLEY, J. (1987). Pain coping strategies in osteoarthritis patients. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 208–212.
KEEFE, F. J., CRISSON, J. E., URBAN, B. J., & WILLIAMS, D. A. (1990). Analyzing chronic low back pain: The relative contribution of pain coping strategies. Pain, 40, 293–301.
LEHOFER, M., LIEBMAN, P. M., MOSER, M., & SCHAUENSTEIN, K. (1998). Nervousness and pain sensitivity: I. A positive correlation. Psychiatry Research, 79, 51–53.
LINEHAN, M. M. (1993). Cognitive-behavioral treatment of borderline personality disorder. New York: Guilford.
MCCRACKEN, L. M., & ECCLESTON, C. (2003). Coping or acceptance: What to do about chronic pain? Pain, 105, 197–204.
OSMAN, A., BARRIOS, F. X., GUTIERREZ, P. M., KOPPER, B. A., BUTLER, A., & BAGGE, C. L. (2003). The Pain Distress Inventory: Development and initial psychometric properties. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 59, 767–785.
PEPPER, S. C. (1942). World hypotheses: A study in evidence. Berkeley: University of California Press.
ROSENSTIEL, A. K., & KEEFE, F. J. (1983). The use of coping strategies in chronic low back pain patients: Relationship to patient characteristics and current adjustment. Pain, 17, 33–44.
SEGAL, Z. V., WILLIAMS, J. M. G., & TEASDALE, J. D. (2002). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression: A new approach to preventing relapse. New York: Guilford.
STEWART, S. H., ZVOLENSKY, M. J., & EIFERT, G. H. (2001). Negative-reinforcement drinking motives mediate the relation between anxiety sensitivity and increased drinking behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 157–171.
WEGNER, D. M. (1994). White bears and other unwanted thoughts: Suppression, obsession, and the psychology of mental control. New York: Guilford.
WEGNER, D. M., & ZANAKOS, S. (1994). Chronic thought suppression. Journal of Personality, 62, 615–640.
WHEELER, J. G., CHRISTENSEN, A., & JACOBSON, N. S. (2001). Couple distress. In D. H. Barlow (Ed.), Clinical handbook of psychological disorders: A step-by-step treatment manual (3rd ed., pp. 609–630). New York; Guilford.
WOLPE, J. (1958). Psychotherapy by reciprocal inhibition. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
ZETTLE, R. D. (1990). Rule-governed behavior: A radical behavioral answer to the cognitive challenge. The Psychological Record, 40, 41–49.
ZETTLE, R. D. (2003). Acceptance and commitment therapy (Act) vs. systematic desensitization in treatment of mathematics anxiety. The Psychological Record, 53, 197–215.
ZETTLE, R. D., & HAYES, S. C. (1986). Dysfunctional control by client verbal behavior: The context of reason-giving. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 4, 30–38.
ZVOLENSKY, M. J., & FORSYTH, J. (2002). Anxiety sensitivity dimensions in the prediction of body vigilance and emotional avoidance. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 26, 449–460.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zettle, R.D., Hocker, T.R., Mick, K.A. et al. Differential Strategies in Coping with Pain as a Function of Level of Experiential Avoidance. Psychol Rec 55, 511–524 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395524
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395524