Mediating role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies in the relationship between alexithymia, pain perception and perceived social support in patient with chronic pain

Subject Areas : Tectonostratigraphy

zahra rezaee ¹ , najmeh fath ²

1 - MSc in clinical psychology, Department of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz Branch, , Shiraz, Iran
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology , Islamic Azad University, Shiraz Branch, Shiraz, Iran

Received: 2019-12-10 Accepted : 2020-11-10 Published : 2020-07-22

Keywords: "Cognitive emotion regulation strategies", "Alexithymia", "Pain perception", "Chronic pain", "Perceived social support",

Abstract :

The aim of the present study was to investigate mediating role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies in the relationship between the alexithymia, pain perception and perceived social support in patients with chronic pain. The present study is a descriptive-correlation research. The statistical population included all of the 20 to 60 year-old women with chronic pain in Shiraz who had referred to the treatment centers during the first six months of 2018. Out of the study population, 160 individuals were selected as the study sample based on convenience method. The instruments used in the present study were: 1.cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire, 2.Toronto alexithymia scale, 3.McGill pain questionnaire and 4.perceived social support scale. To perform the goodness of fit test on the proposed model, path analysis method based on AMOS software was utilized. The results indicated that the cognitive emotion regulation strategies do not play a mediating role between alexithymia and pain perception but they significantly mediate the relationship between alexithymia and perceived social support. It can be generally stated that cognitive emotion regulation strategies can play a mediating role between alexithymia and perceived social support.

References:

Akker, v.d. (2007). psychosocial aspects of surrogate motherhood. Human reproduction update, 13(1),53-62.

 Aldao, E., Nolen-Hoeksema, S. & Schweizer, S. (2010). Emotion-regulation strateges across psychopathology: A meta-analytic review. Clinical psychology review, 30, 217-237.

Besharat, M. A., Ofoghi, Z., Aghaei Sabet, S., Habibnezhad, M., Pournaghdali, A., & Geranmayepour, S. (2014). Moderating effect of cognitive emotion regulation strategies on the relationship between alexithymia and interpersonal problems. Advances in cognitive science, 15(4), 43-52.

 Besharat MA, Koochi S, Dehghani M, Farahani H, Momenzadeh S. survey of moderating role of positive and negative affections on the relationship between alexithymia and experience of pain in chronic pain patients.CPAP 2013; 2(7): 103-113.

Bratis, D., Tselebis, A., Sikaras, C., Moulou, A., Giotakis, K., Zoumakis, E., & Ilias, I. (2009). Alexithymia and its association with burnout, depression and family support among Greek nursing staff. Human resources for health,7(72), 1-6.

Callaghan, P., Morrissey, J. (1993). Social support and health: a review. Journal of  advanced nursing, 18, 203-210.

Cano, A. (2004). Pain catastrophizing and social support in married individuals with chronic pain: the moderating role of pain duration. Pain,110(3),656-64.

Chen, J., Xu, T., Jing, J., & Chan, R. C. (2011). Alexithymia and emotional regulation: a cluster analytical approach. BMC psychiatry, 11(33), 1-6.

Connelly, M., Denney, D, R. (2007). Regulation of emotion during experimental stress in alexithymia. Journal of psychosomatic research, 62, 649-656.

Davoodi, I., Zargar, Y., Mozafari pour, E., Nargesi, F., & Mola, K. The relationship between pain catastrophizing, social support, pain-related anxiety, coping strategies and neuroticism, with functional disability in rheumatic patients. Journal of health psychology, 1(1), 54-67.

Epping-jordan,  J., Bengoa, R., Kawar, R., & Sabate, E. (2001). The challenge of chronic conditions: WHO responds. British medical journal, 323,947-8.

Evren, C., Cagil, D., Ulka, M., Ozcetinkaya, S. & Yigiter, S. (2012). Relation between defense styles, alexithymia, and personality in alcohol-dependent inpatients. Comprehensive psychiatry, 53,860-867.

Garnefski, N., Kommer, T., Kraaiji, V., Teerds, J., Legerstee, J., & Onstein, E. (2002). The relationship between cognitive emotion regulation and emotional problems: Comparison between a clinical and non-clinical sample. European journal of personality. ,23(16),403-420.

Gatchel, R. J., & Turk, D. C. (1996). Psychological approaches to pain management: A practitioner s handbook. New York: Guilford Press.

Gorbani, E., Issazadegan, A., & Saffarinia, M. (2012). The relationship between cognitive emotion regulation strategies and perceived social support among individuals with multiple sclerosis. International research journal of applied and basic sciences, 3,2647-2650.

Gorbani, F., Kosravani, V., Ardakani, R., Alvandi, A., & Akbari, H. (2016). The mediating effects of cognitive emotion regulation strategies on the relationship between alexithymia and physical symptoms. Psychiatric research, 1-29.

Harris, C. R. (2001). Cardiovascular responses of embarrassment and effects of emotional suppression in a social setting. Journal of personality and social psychology. 81,886-897.

Hosoi, M., Molton, I., Jensen, M., Ehde, D., Amtmann, S., Obrien, S., & …. (2010). Relationships among alexithymia and pain intensity, pain interference, and validity in persons with neuromuscular disease: considering the effect of negative affectivity. Pain, 149, 273-277.

John, O. P., & Gross, J. J. (2004). Healthy and unhealthy emotion regulation: personality processes, individual differences, and life span development. Personality, 6(72), 1301-1334.

Khodabakhsh, M. R., & Kiani, F. (2016). The mediator role of emotion regulation difficulties in relationship between alexithymia and disordered eating behaviors among students allameh tabatabai university. Qom univ med sci journal, 10(2), 44-51.

Kosrurek A, Gregory RJ, Sousou A, trife P. Alexithymia and somatic amplification in chronic pain. Journal of psychosomatic 1998; 39: 399-404.

Kreitler, S. (2002). The psychosemantic approach to alexithymia. Personality and individual differences, 33, 393-407.

Lopez-Martinez, A., Esteve-Zarazaga, R., & Ramirez-Maestre, C. Perceived social support and coping responses are independent variables explaining pain adjustment among chronic pain patients. The journal of  pain, 9(4), 373-379.

Lumley, M., & Radcliff, A. (2005). Alexithymia and pain in three chronic pain samples: comparing Caucasians and African americans. Pain medicine, 6(3), 251-261.

Melzak, R. (1983). "The Mc Gill pain questionnaire", Pain Measurement and Assessment, 16, 41-47.

Mihalca, A. M., & Tarnavska, Y. (2013). Cognitive emotion regulation strategies and social functioning in adolescents. Social and behavioral sciences, 82, 574-579.

Mohammadi, L., Tnha, Z., & Rahmani, S. (2015). Relationship between cognitive emotion regulation strategies and high risk behaviors by mediating perceived social support. Journal of modern psychological research, 10(39), 161-187.

Molavi, P., Mikaeili, N., Daneshvar, S., Narimani, M., & Mehri, S. (2015). The role of denial and alexithymia on pain perception in women with breast cancer. The journal of Urmia universityof medical sciences, 26(2), 102-111.

Mousavi, E., Alizadeh, T., Yavari Kermani, M., & Pourhossein, R. (2014). The role of alexithymia and emothonal expressivity in predicting somatization symptoms among veterans. Journal of military psychology, 5(19), 19-28.

Parker, D.A., Taylor, G., & Bagby, R.M. (2001).The relationship between emotional intelligence and alexithymia. Personality and individual differences, 30, 107-115.

Sifneos, P.E. (1973). The prevalence of alexithymic characteristics in psychosomatic patient. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics , 22,255-262.

Shibata, M., Ninomia, T., Jesen, M., Anno, K., Yonemoto, K., & Makino, S. (2014). Alexithymia is associated with greater risk of chronic pain and negative affect and with lower life satisfaction in a general population: the hisayama study. Plos one, 9,3, 1-8.

Streeter, C.L., & Franklin, C. (1992).  Defining and measuring social support: Guidelines for Social Work Practitioners. Research on Social Work Practice , 2(1), 81-98.

Swart, M., Kortekaas, R., & Aleman, A. (2009). Dealing with feelings: characterization of  trait alexithymia on emotion regulation strategies and cognitive- emotional processing. Plos one, 4(6): e5751.

Tella, M., Tesio, V., Ghiggia, A., Romeo, A., Colonna, F., Fusaro, E., Geminiani, G. C., Bruzzone, M., &…. (2017). Copinng strategies and perceived social support in fibromalgia syndrome: relationship with alexithymia. Scandinavian journal of psychology, 1-10.

Tella, M. D., Ghiggia, A., Tesio, V., Romeo, A., Colonna, F., Fusaro, E., Torta, R., & Castelli, L. (2016). Pain experience in Fibromyaigia syndrome: The role of alexithymia and psychological distress. Journal of affective disorders, 201, 1-20.

Vesal, M., Mollazadeh, J., Taghavi, M. R., & Nazarinia, M. A. (2015). Prediction of depression based on perception of pain and quality of sleep due to pain catastrophizing in elderly patient with rheumatoid arthritis. Journal of anesthesiology and pain, 5(4), 69-80.

Zimet, G., Dahlem, N., Zimet, S., & Farley, G. (1988). The multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Jurnal of personality assessment, 52(1), 30-41.