Childhood experiences and adult behavior in a group of women with pain accounted for by psychological factors and a group recovered from major depression

Objective: In this study twenty-four women with pain accounted for by psych ological factors (DSM-IV, 307.80) and twenty-four with major depression dia gnosed according to DSM-III-R were compared to study the relationship betwe en pain and depression. Method: They were examined by a semi-structured, ta pe-recorded interview to study their childhood experiences and adult behavi or. The interviews were rated by two independent and blind raters. Interrat er correlation (Cohen-Kappa) varied between good and closeagreement. Result s: Of childhood experiences, "brutality between parents," "brutality toward child," and "sexual abuse" were often found in both groups and were more s trongly represented in these than in comparison groups of former studies. A s adults, the pain group had experienced more serious illness (p = 0.037) a nd surgery (p = 0.014). The depression group more often had a history of de pression (15/24 vs. 4/24; p = 0.001). The pain group spoke negatively of it s physicians (p = 0.001), was more hostile during the interview (p = 0.041) , was less convinced of the benefit of the hospital stay (p = 0.029), felt less self-responsible, and was more pessimistic (p = 0.013). The pain patie nts also provoked negative emotions in the raters, whereas the latter's rea ction to the depression group was compassion and interest (p = 0.0005) (Pea rson's chi (2) and Fisher's exact tests). Conclusions: The results show tha t negative childhood experiences are prominent and similar in patients with pain accounted for by psychological factors and in patients after major de pression. Adult behavior, however, is very different.