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Pain Location and Psychological Characteristics of Patients With Chronic Pain

Received June 3, 1999; revised August 24, 1999; accepted September 29, 1999. From the Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 750 East Adams Street, Syracuse, NY 13210. Address reprint requests to Dr. Gregory.

The authors assessed psychological characteristics of 140 medical outpatients with chronic nonmalignant pain referred for psychiatric consultation. Subjects completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SSAS), and Counterdependency Scale (CDS). The only psychological measure able to differentiate the chronic pain group from the control subjects was the CDS. However, SSAS scores were significantly higher in subjects having pain involving the head, chest, abdomen, or pelvis than in subjects having pain only in their backs or extremities. The latter subgroup had significantly higher CDS scores. The findings suggest that there are discrete subgroups within the chronic pain population defined by pain location and specific psychological characteristics.

Key Words: Pain • Counterdependency • Alexithymia

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