Pain, pain catastrophizing, and past mental healthcare utilization.
OBJECTIVE
Pain symptoms have been associated with a number of psychiatric disorders, particularly mood and anxiety disorders as well as personality disorders. However, to our knowledge, no study to date has examined pain symptoms in terms of participants' past mental healthcare utilization--the focus of the present study.


METHODS
Using a cross-sectional approach and a self-report survey methodology in a sample of 242 consecutive internal medicine outpatients, we examined pain symptoms at assessment, over the past month, and over the past year as well as pain catastrophizing in relationship to 4 mental healthcare variables (i.e., ever seen a psychiatrist, ever been in a psychiatric hospital, ever been in counseling, and ever been on medication for "nerves").


RESULTS
Only three of the four mental-healthcare-utilization variables were analyzed due to response rate (i.e., ever been hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital was infrequently endorsed and not analyzed), and each demonstrated statistically significant relationships with self-reported pain levels at all three time-points and with pain catastrophizing at the p<.001 level.


CONCLUSIONS
In this study, primary care outpatients with histories of mental health treatment evidenced statistically significantly higher levels of pain as well as statistically significantly higher levels of pain catastrophizing than their peers.
Department of Psychiatry, Wright State University School of Medicine, Dayton, OH, United States; Department of Internal Medicine, Wright State University School of Medicine, Dayton, OH, United States; Psychiatry Education, Kettering Medical Center, Kettering, OH, United States. Electronic address: Randy.Sansone@khnetwork.org.
Randy A
RA
Sansone
Department of Psychiatry, Wright State University School of Medicine, Dayton, OH, United States.
Daron A
DA
Watts
Columbia College, Columbia, SC, United States.
Michael W
MW
Wiederman
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D058443:Catastrophization / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D057566:Self Report; D055815:Young Adult
Mental healthcare utilization; Pain; Pain Catastrophizing Scale; Pain catastrophizing