Worry and catastrophizing about pain in youth: A reappraisal
Open accessAbstract
Catastrophizing about pain is defined as “an exaggerated negative ‘mental set’ brought to bear during actual or anticipated pain experience” [25]. It is a salient form of worry, and one that has proven useful in explaining pain severity, disability, and adaptation to treatment in a range of different conditions and settings [7] and [12]. Catastrophizing involves repeated thought about threat as uncontrollable and likely to have awful consequences. These aspects have been captured neatly by Sullivan and colleagues with the labels of “rumination,” “helplessness,” and “magnification” [24]. Catastrophizing was identified as important for children’s adaptation to pain and included in early measurement tools focused on coping [20]. However, interest has been fuelled by the development of the child version of the adult Pain Catastrophizing Scale, the PCS-C [3], [27] and [29]. We suggest that a reappraisal of catastrophic thinking about pain in young people is needed before research blooms. In what follows, we focus on a developmental view of emotional coping, we look again at how catastrophizing about pain has been researched with children, and we suggest an alternative view. Finally, we introduce the research and clinical implications of this reappraisal.
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- Authors
- Eccleston, C., Fisher, E. A., Vervoort, T., & Crombez, G.
- Affiliations
- Ghent University (BE)
- University of Bath (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Eccleston, Christopher
- Venue
- Pain
- Published
- 2012-08
- Volume
- 153
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1560-1562
- ISSN
- 0304-3959 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1991686823
- Cited by
- 79
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 0.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- biblio.ugent.be
- Licence
- Locations
- Pain (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- The University of Bath Online Publications Store (The University of Bath) (submittedVersion)
- Pure (University of Bath) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Pediatric Pain Management Techniques
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- pain catastrophizing, worry, youth, children, coping, rumination, helplessness, magnification, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, developmental psychology, pain adaptation, pain intensity
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Anxiety, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Male, Pain, Catastrophization
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