The Role of Anxiety Sensitivity, Fear of Pain and Experiential Avoidance in Experimental Pain

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate whether distraction is less effective when pain is perceived as threaten- ing. Forty-one female undergraduate participants were assigned to distraction and not distraction conditions that consisted in performing a distraction task and the threat value of the pain stimuli was manipulated using instruc- tions. AS, EA and FP were considered as covariates. Results indicated that distraction manipulation had a main effect on less pain intensity, more tolerance and less catastrophic thoughts. Interestingly, the covariate AS had a significant effect over tolerance and EA had an effect on distress and anxiety related to pain. These results sug- gest that AS and EA are distinct processes and that each could play a different role in the response to pain. Anxiety sensitivity involves behavioural avoidance, whereas EA is a rejection of the internal experience that contributes to an increase in emotional distress