THE ROLE OF PAIN-RELATED ANXIETY REDUCTION IN THE OUTCOME OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY TREATMENT FOR CHRONIC LOW-BACK-PAIN - PRELIMINARY-RESULTS

The success of multidisciplinary treatments for chronic pain in helpin g patients suffer less and function better is well documented. However this success has occurred despite a lack of understanding of the proc ess of change that produces positive outcomes. The purpose of this stu dy was to investigate the role of pain-related anxiety reduction in th e outcome of treatment for chronic pain. Seventy-nine persons with chr onic pain completed measures of pain, pain-related interference with a ctivity, affective distress, general daily activity, and pain-related anxiety at admission and immediately following a 3-week multidisciplin ary treatment program focusing on functional restoration. Patients sig nificantly improved on all outcome measures. Reductions in pain-relate d anxiety predicted improved functioning on each measure. Additional a nalyses showed that change in pain-related anxiety remained a signific ant predictor of outcome independent of change in depression.