THE EXAMINATION OF MYOFASCIAL FACE PAIN AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AMONG WOMEN

In this study, 110 female myofascial face pain patients were assessed monthly for 10 months on measures of pain, distress, and stressful lif e events. D. A. Kenny and A. J. Zautra's (1995) structural equation mo del for examining the separate trait, state, and error components of t he variables was used to analyze the data. Both pain and distress bad sizable trait variance, and the trait components were correlated. The 2 variables also showed sizable state variance, and the states of pain covaried with states of distress. A significant time-lagged relations hip between the 2 variables was found: Increases in distress led to el evations in pain 1 month later. stressful life events arising from maj or social roles were also associated with greater distress, but not pa in. Illness events unrelated to the pain syndrome were associated with both pain and distress.