Everyday Executive Functioning in Chronic Pain: Specific Deficits in Working Memory and Emotion Control, Predicted by Mood, Medications, and Pain Interference
Abstract
Objectives People with chronic pain may experience impairments in high-level cognitive skills, particularly executive functions. Such impairments are not adequately measured in most clinical pain management settings yet could be a key influence on everyday functioning. We administered a well-validated, well-normed self-report measure to determine which aspects of executive functioning are compromised in the daily experience of patients with chronic pain, and whether these are associated with pain severity, medications, and mood. Materials and methods Sixty-three patients attending a multidisciplinary pain management clinic, and 66 pain-free age-matched and sex-matched controls, completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, Adult version (BRIEF-A). The BRIEF-A measures 9 aspects of executive function: Inhibit, Shift, Emotional Control, Initiate, Self-Monitor, Working Memory, Plan/Organize, Task Monitor, and Organization of Materials. Patients completed a battery of mood and pain-related measures. Results Profile analysis revealed that patients with chronic pain reported significantly greater overall executive function impairments than controls. The patients showed greatest impairments on Working Memory and Emotional Control subscales, with more than half scoring in the clinically elevated range. A significant proportion of the variance in these scores was explained by total medication detriment (but not opioids alone), negative emotional states, and pain inter…
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Physical pain comes at a price in the form of reduced executive functioning.
“but it comes at a price in the form of reduced executive functioning (Baker et al. 2016; Eccleston and Crombez 1999; Moriarty, McGuire, and Finn 2011).”
From Human Capital and Administrative Burden: The Role of Cognitive Resources in Citizen‐State Interactions (2020) · cites this paper as Baker et al. 2016
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“…beneficial as it helps people initiate actions aimed at escaping the often harmful sources of pain (e.g., removing one’s hands from a hot surface), but it comes at a price in the form of reduced executive functioning (Baker et al. 2016; Eccleston and Crombez 1999; Moriarty, McGuire, and Finn 2011).”
BackgroundNorman-Nott, N., Wilks, C. R., Hesam-Shariati, N., Schroeder, J., Suh, J., Czerwinski, M., Briggs, N. E., Quidé, Y., McAuley, J., & Gustin, S. M. (2022) · The Journal of Pain · doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2021.10.003 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
- Authors
- Baker, K. S., Gibson, S., Georgiou-Karistianis, N., Roth, R. M., & Giummarra, M. J.
- Affiliations
- Caulfield Hospital (AU)
- National Ageing Research Institute (AU)
- School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University
- Dartmouth College (US)
- Corresponding author
- Baker, Katharine S.
- Gibson, Stephen
- Giummarra, Melita J.
- Venue
- The Clinical Journal of Pain
- Published
- 2016-08
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 673-680
- ISSN
- 0749-8047 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2325186687
- Cited by
- 103
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 3
- FWCI
- 3.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Clinical Journal of Pain (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Monash University
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine › Pain Management and Opioid Use
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Keywords
- chronic pain, executive function, working memory, emotional control, Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, multidisciplinary pain management, analgesics, opioid side effects, mood, pain interference, daily functioning
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Affect, Aged, Female, Humans, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Middle Aged, Psychological Tests, Regression Analysis, Young Adult, Executive Function, Emotional Intelligence, Self Report, Chronic Pain
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