SOCIAL, BLOOD INJURY, AND AGORAPHOBIC FEARS IN PATIENTS WITH PHYSICALLY UNEXPLAINED CHRONIC PAIN - ARE THEY CLINICALLY SIGNIFICANT/

Recently, there has been increased interest in the extent to which chr onic pain patients fear and avoid activities that are thought to be re lated to the experience of pain. To date, however, few studies have ev aluated the nature and extent of nonpain fears in these patients. The purpose of the present study was to address this paucity. The Fear Que stionnaire was administered to 130 patients with physically unexplaine d chronic pain and 93 patients with a chronic condition unrelated to p ain. Results indicated that the chronic pain patients were more fearfu l and avoidant of social interactions/situations and blood/injury than were the patient controls. Agoraphobia was minimal and did not differ significantly between groups. As well, the proportions of chronic pai n patients indicating definite avoidance of particular situations rela ted to blood/injury phobia (i.e., injection/minor surgery, hospitals, sight of blood, and thoughts of injury/illness) and social phobia (i.e ., being watched/stared at, and speaking/acting to an audience) were s ignificantly greater when compared to the patient controls. These resu lts indicate that nonpain fear and avoidance are common in patients wi th chronic pain. Implications regarding the significance of these fear s and avoidance behaviours on the experience and maintenance of pain s ymptoms and related disability are discussed. Anxiety 2:28-33 (1996). (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.