British Journal of Pain

Qualitative work adopts a different epistemological and ontological perspective to quantitative work.

Qualitative research is not well established in the field of pain, but is growing.

More interpretative engagement with qualitative data is required.

Depression commonly occurs as a result of chronic pain and needs treating to improve outcome measures and quality of life.

Anxiety negatively affects thoughts and behaviours which hinders rehabilitation.

Anxiety and depression in acute hospital settings also negatively affect pain experience and should be considered in both adults and children.

Poor pain control and significant mood disorders perioperatively contribute to the development of chronic postoperative pain.

Individuals who parent an adolescent with chronic pain report high levels of impaired psychological and social functioning.

Parents of adolescents with chronic pain face unique parenting challenges.

Typically, treatment of adolescent chronic pain does not specifically focus on managing parental functioning and behaviour.

The relationship between parental functioning/behaviour and adolescent outcomes is complex and not yet fully understood.

There is some evidence that relaxation can reduce pain outcomes in both acute and chronic pain, however there is evidence that these improvements are not maintained over time.

More limited research suggests that mindfulness can lead to improvements in psychological measures and physical functioning and these improvements appear to be maintained at follow-up.

Further research is needed. Both researchers and practitioners need to be clearer on the outcomes that their techniques best facilitate and the processes which are active within them.

The ensuing contradictory facets of the self lead to internal discrepancies which can have both motivational and emotional consequences.

Self-Discrepancy Theory (SDT) explains emotional consequences by considering discrepancies between the actual, ideal or ought self.

Depression can be part predicted by considering the extent an individual regards their self as enmeshed with their pain.

Individuals who place a high value on independence or social interaction are more likely to experience a high anxious state in the presence of the “mere threat” of pain enmeshment.

Consequently pain can rapidly come to infiltrate and affect a person's sense of self.