Papers of the Week

Co-prevalence of chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) negatively impacts the course of both disorders. Patients diagnosed with both conditions report greater pain, affective distress and disability when compared to those with either chronic pain or PTSD alone. While the prevalence and complexity of the comorbidity is widely acknowledged, there is a dearth of research examining potential mechanism variables that might account for the relationship between chronic pain and PTSD. The current study utilizes a series of mediation analyses to examine if pain catastrophizing mediates the relationship between PTSD symptomatology and chronic pain outcome.