THE RELATIONSHIP OF DEPRESSION AND SOMATIC FOCUS TO EXPERIMENTAL AND CLINICAL PAIN IN CHRONIC PAIN PATIENTS

The present study examined Fields' proposal that depression increases the sensory experience of pain in part through greater somatic focus. Experimental and clinical pain measures were compared to self-report o f depression and somatic focus in 60 chronic pain patients. Depression scores were unrelated to pain threshold or tolerance on the cold-pres sor test. However, as hypothesized by Fields, path analytic models sug gested that depression had a direct influence on the evaluative and af fective aspects of pain, but the relationship between depression and s ensory pain was mediated by somatic focus. These results provide parti al support for Fields' neurobiological model of pain and depression.