Pain catastrophizing is associated with reduced neural response to monetary reward

Megan E Cooke; Robert R Edwards; Grace L Wheeler; William A Schmitt; Lindsay V Nielsen; Joanna M Streck; Randi M Schuster; Kevin Potter; A Eden Evins; Jodi M Gilman

doi:10.3389/fpain.2023.1129353

Pain catastrophizing is associated with reduced neural response to monetary reward

Front Pain Res (Lausanne). 2023 Sep 7:4:1129353. doi: 10.3389/fpain.2023.1129353. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Megan E Cooke^{1

2

3}, Robert R Edwards^{3

4}, Grace L Wheeler^{1

2}, William A Schmitt^{1

2}, Lindsay V Nielsen¹, Joanna M Streck^{1

3

5}, Randi M Schuster^{1

3}, Kevin Potter¹, A Eden Evins^{1

3}, Jodi M Gilman^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Addiction Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.
² Athinoula A. Martinos Center in Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States.
³ Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
⁴ Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Chestnut Hill, MA, United States.
⁵ Tobacco Research and Treatment Center, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.

Abstract

Introduction: Pain catastrophizing, a measure of an individual's negative emotional and cognitive appraisals of pain, has been included as a key treatment target in many psychological interventions for pain. However, the neural correlates of pain catastrophizing have been understudied. Prior neuroimaging evidence suggests that adults with pain show altered reward processing throughout the mesocorticolimbic reward circuitry.

Methods: In this study, we tested the association between Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) scores and neural activation to the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) reward neuroimaging task in 94 adults reporting a range of pain, insomnia, and mood symptoms.

Results: Results indicated that PCS score but not pain intensity was significantly associated with blunted activation in the caudate and putamen in response to feedback of successful vs. unsuccessful trials on the MID task. Mediation analyses indicated that PCS score fully mediated the relationship between depression symptoms and reward activation.

Discussion: These findings provide evidence that pain catastrophizing is independently associated with altered striatal function apart from depression symptoms and pain intensity. Thus, in individuals experiencing pain and/or co- morbid conditions, reward dysfunction is directly related to pain catastrophizing.

Keywords: caudate; depression; fMRI; monetary incentive delay; pain; putamen.

Grants and funding

MC is supported by the Louis V. Gerstner III Research Scholar Award from the Gerstner Family Foundation. JG is supported by R01DA042043 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. RS is supported by K23DA042946 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. AE is supported by K24DA030443 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.