Papers of the Week

Chronic pain and hazardous alcohol use (i.e., a pattern of alcohol consumption that increases risk for harmful consequences) are prevalent and frequently comorbid conditions that have been posited to interact in a bidirectional manner, leading to greater pain and heavier drinking. Despite evidence that emotion dysregulation (i.e., difficulty modulating emotional responses when experiencing negative emotions) is independently associated with both greater pain and greater alcohol consumption, we are not aware of any previous research examining relations between emotion dysregulation, pain intensity, and hazardous alcohol use among individuals with chronic pain.