title: Characteristics of response to experimental pain in sexually abused women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Women with a history of sexual abuse (SA) commonly report greater pain symptoms. It is still unclear whether enhanced pain susceptibility is the result of altered pain processing and response. Therefore, this pilot study aimed to explore pain sensitivity to experimentally induced pain and associated psychology in women with a history of severe SA.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-one survivors of severe, long-lasting SA and 21 control women underwent experimentally induced heat pain and completed psychological questionnaires. Pain measures included heat pain thresholds, pain intensity ratings, and pain tolerance in response to contact heat, painful stimulation delivered to the volar forearm. Questionnaires included somatization (Brief Symptom Inventory), personality traits including harm avoidance, novelty seeking, and reward dependence (Cloninger tridimensional personality questionnaire), and levels of dissociation (Dissociative Experiences Scale).
  
  
  RESULTS
  SA women had elevated heat pain thresholds (45.7±2.2°C vs. 43.9±3.1°C; P=0.042) and higher pain intensity ratings (on a 0 to 100 scale: 80.0±26.6 vs. 51.2±27.7; P=0.001). In addition, they had lower tolerability to painful tonic stimulation, greater somatization, and larger harm avoidance scores. Regression analyses showed that higher pain intensity ratings in SA women associated with greater tendency for harm avoidance but not with levels of dissociation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Women with a history of severe SA seem to have a paradoxical pattern of experimental pain response, characterized by both higher pain thresholds and increased pain intensity ratings. This pattern is associated with the personality trait of harm avoidance. Models that might account for these findings are discussed.
authors: University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel. granot@research.haifa.ac.il
authors: Michal
authors: M
authors: Granot
authors: Eli
authors: E
authors: Somer
authors: Yaara
authors: Y
authors: Zisman-Ilani
authors: Ahuva
authors: A
authors: Beny
authors: Ronit
authors: R
authors: Sadger
authors: Ronit
authors: R
authors: Mirkin
authors: Ruth
authors: R
authors: Moont
authors: Yoram
authors: Y
authors: Yovell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018585:Battered Women / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006358:Hot Temperature / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000502:physiology*; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents