Daily diaries reveal influence of pessimism and anxiety on pain prediction patterns
Abstract
The match/mismatch model of pain prediction was tested with a group of rheumatoid arthritis patients (N = 227) in a natural setting. Daily diary measures of pain prediction and pain experience were obtained over 30 days. Results revealed a greater number of underpredictors (N = 147) than over predictors (N = 58) in our sample, with a minority (N = 22) overpredicting and underpredicting with equal frequency. Further, people modified their predictions to a greater degree after an over prediction than they did after an under prediction. As expected, anxious participants were less accurate and more prone to over predicting their pain than their less anxious counterparts. In contrast, participants who reported low levels of daily pessimism were more likely than their more pessimistic counterparts to under predict their pain. The findings suggest that people continued to under predict their pain despite repeated disconfirmations and that low levels of pessimism may have accounted for this pattern.
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Pain-related fear and anxiety are associated with overprediction of daily pain, where patients expected more pain than their actual self-reported pain.
“Pain-related fear and anxiety have been associated with overprediction of daily pain, where patients expected to experience more pain than their actual self-reported pain [12,13].”
From Nocebo hyperalgesia and other expectancy-related factors in daily fibromyalgia pain: Combining experimental and electronic diary methods (2024) · cites this paper as [13]
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Vansimaeys, C., Zuber, M., Pitrat, B., Join-Lambert, C., Tamazyan, R., Farhat, W., & Bungener, C. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01172 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Karacaoglu, M., Peerdeman, K. J., Karch, J. D., van Middendorp, H., & Evers, A. W. M. (2024) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2024.111676
- Authors
- Finan, P., Zautra, A., & Tennen, H.
- Affiliations
- Arizona State University (US)
- University of Connecticut (US)
- Corresponding author
- Finan, Patrick
- ORCID
- Finan, Patrick
- Venue
- Psychology & Health
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2008-07
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 551-568
- ISSN
- 0887-0446 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-8321
- OpenAlex
- W2060257272
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 1.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychology and Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Optimism, Hope, and Well-being
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Pain Management and Placebo Effect
- Keywords
- pain prediction, pessimism, anxiety, rheumatoid arthritis, pain experience, overprediction, prediction accuracy, disconfirmation, daily diary
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Affect, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Anxiety, Arthritis, Rheumatoid, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pain, Pain Measurement, Young Adult
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