Emotional distress: Specifying a neglected part of chronic pain

Antonia Barke; Helen Koechlin; Beatrice Korwisi; Cosima Locher

doi:10.1002/ejp.1525

Emotional distress: Specifying a neglected part of chronic pain

Eur J Pain. 2020 Mar;24(3):477-480. doi: 10.1002/ejp.1525. Epub 2020 Jan 8.

Authors

Antonia Barke¹, Helen Koechlin^{2

3}, Beatrice Korwisi⁴, Cosima Locher^{2

3

5}

Affiliations

¹ Biological and Clinical Psychology, Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, Eichstaett, Germany.
² Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
³ Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁴ Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
⁵ School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.

PMID: 31876333
DOI: 10.1002/ejp.1525

Abstract

We argue that in all randomized controlled trials that investigate treatments for chronic pain emotional distress should be reported. In a majority of cases, pain intensity and pain-related disability are measured, yet-despite guidelines to the contrary-pain-related distress is not included. We suggest that the new extension code for chronic pain as incorporated in the ICD-11 will be well suited to fill this gap at minute additional effort for the participants.

MeSH terms

Chronic Pain* / therapy
Emotions*
Humans
Pain Measurement
Psychological Distress*
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic