Another study demonstrates what is well known anecdotally, that chronic pain heightens tensions between the caregiver and the one in chronic pain:
In a study in the December 2009 issue of the journal Pain, Cano and her colleagues followed 106 couples in which one partner had a chronic pain condition, such as arthritis or back pain (the most common condition). The researchers found that people in pain who felt entitled to more support from their partners were more likely to have excessive or exaggerated perceptions and thoughts about the extent of their pain and the disability it caused. (This is known as catastrophizing.)
They just wanted their emotional distress to be accepted by their partner.Catastrophizing isn’t a healthy or successful coping strategy; in fact, it’s associated with higher levels of pain, distress, and depression. It’s also associated with passive ways of asking for help — a strategy that tends to backfire as well, according to Cano.
“If someone expects other people to provide support but doesn’t know how to communicate directly what he or she would like, that person might express their frustration indirectly, by sighing, moaning, or engaging in other behaviors that might seem off-putting to the other person,” she explains. And if the person in pain doesn’t receive the help they want or expect, says Cano, he or she might react with anger or disappointment.
Pain combined with loss of income is a toxic mix for any relationship.
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From the linked article:
“The researchers found that people in pain who felt entitled to more support from their partners were more likely to have excessive or exaggerated perceptions and thoughts about the extent of their pain and the disability it caused.”
How did the researchers manage to reliably assess “excessive or exagerated perceptions”? If the reseachers studied those afflicted with fibromyalgia, then the next question is wehther the reseachers used techniques beyond those that are embodied in SSA regulations and rulings. If they did, and if these techniques are demonstrably reliable, using them might ease the oh-so-difficult task of evaluating statements about symptoms for disability evaluation.
Here’s my speculation: the researchers may well have restricted their studies to those conditions that unlike fibromyalgia, come supplied with a variety of clinical and other similar finding thought to correlate with the severity of the underlying disorder. The reseachers might then have attempted to extrapolate from these more easily studied subjects. If I’m right about this raw speculation, then the reseachers ended up evaluating pain via assessing objective evidence alone—a technique largely barred to SSA adjudicators.
Mr. Morton:
Nice to have you back. I never erased the bookmark for your site. Although I confess that it took some few weeks to notice you were posting again.
Nice to hear from you JOA. Hope all is well with you.