Psychological variables involved in chronic pain outcomes:the role of pain catastrophizing and self-compassion

Psychological variables have been shown to be important in the experience of chronic pain. One such variable, pain catastrophizing, has repeatedly been demonstrated as a significant predictor of pain intensity. With the aim to explore the relationship between pain catastrophizing and pain intensity, a systematic review of published empirical research was undertaken. The results suggested that there is a significant relationship between pain intensity and pain catastrophizing on a cross-sectional basis. However this relationship becomes more complex when additional psychological factors are controlled for or considered as mediating or moderating variables. The limitations of the review and implications of findings are discussed. The second section of this thesis is an empirical study that considered the relationship between chronic pain-related outcomes and a more recently emerging psychological variable in the field of chronic pain, self-compassion. This took a cross-sectional self-report questionnaire design. Recruitment took place in NHS chronic pain clinics, community support groups, social media websites and online forums (N = 210). This research suggested that, while some aspects of self-compassion were significantly correlated with pain intensity and pain-related disability, together they could not explain a unique amount of variance in either outcome variable once other psychological variables were controlled for in hierarchical regression models. Limitations of the study and clinical implications are discussed. The third section of this thesis takes the form of a critical appraisal which further discusses the process of conducting the research element of this thesis