Citation

Difede J, Jaffe AB, Musngi G, Perry S, Yurt R. Pain 1997; 72(1-2): 245-251.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, New York 10021, USA. jdifede@mail.med.cornell.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9272809

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between extent of injury, degree and type of psychological distress and self-report of pain in burn survivors. One hundred eighty burn patients were interviewed within 2 weeks of their burn trauma. Using a visual analogue scale to assess subjective pain and pain relief, and self-report measures of post-traumatic stress symptoms and general psychological distress, we assessed the relationship between PTSD symptoms, general distress and pain. Subjective pain was unrelated to sex, ethnicity, or total body surface area burned. The most important correlate of subjective pain was general psychological distress. Intrusive PTSD symptoms had no independent power to predict the variance in pain scores. However, among women, more severe avoidant symptoms were associated with greater subjective pain.

Language: en