Research Progress of Chronic Pain and Memory Bias

Abstract Background and aims Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is related to more severe pain among chronic pain patients. PTSD is also related to dysfunctions or biases in several cognitive processes, including autobiographical memory. The autobiographical memories are our memories of specific personal events taking place over a limited amount of time on a specific occasion. We investigated how two biases in autobiographical memory, overgeneral memory style and negative emotional bias were related to pain, PTSD and trauma exposure in chronic pain patients. Methods Forty-three patients with diverse chronic pain conditions were recruited from a specialist pain clinic. The patients were evaluated for psychiatric diagnosis, with a diagnostic interview Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I) and for exposure to the most common types of traumatic events with the Life Event Checklist (LEC). The patients were tested with the 15-cue-words version of the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT). In this test the participants are presented verbally to five positive, five neutral and five negative cue words and asked to respond with a personal, episodic memory associated with the cue word. The participant’s responses were coded according to level of specificity and emotional valence. Pain intensity was assessed on a Visual Analogy Scale (VAS) and extent of pain by marking affected body parts on a pre-drawn body figure. Comparisons on autobiographical memory were made between PTSD and non-PTSD groups, and correlations were computed between pain intensity and extent of pain, trauma exposure and autobiographical memory. Results PTSD and extent of pain were significantly related to more negatively emotionally valenced memory responses to positive and negative cue words. There were no significant difference in response to neutral cue words. PTSD status and pain intensity were unrelated to overgeneral autobiographical memory style. Conclusions A memory bias towards negatively emotionally valenced memories is associated with PTSD and extent of pain. This bias may sustain negative mood and thereby intensify pain perception, or pain may also cause this memory bias. Contrary to our expectations, pain, trauma exposure and PTSD were not significantly related to an overgeneral memory style. Implications Cognitive therapies that have an ingredient focusing on amending memory biases in persons with comorbid pain and PTSD might be helpful for this patient population. Further investigations of negative personal memories and techniques to improve the control over these memories could potentially be useful for chronic pain treatment.

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Adapting to disruption of research during the COVID-19 pandemic while testing nonpharmacological approaches to pain management

Translational Behavioral Medicine ◽

10.1093/tbm/ibaa074 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 827-834

Author(s):

Brian C Coleman ◽

Jacob Kean ◽

Cynthia A Brandt ◽

Peter Peduzzi ◽

Robert D Kerns

Keyword(s):

Chronic Pain ◽

Pain Management ◽

Large Scale ◽

Clinical Care ◽

Research Progress ◽

Management Interventions ◽

Study Protocols ◽

Pragmatic Clinical Trials ◽

Patient Reported ◽

The Impact

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed research progress, with particularly disruptive effects on investigations of addressing urgent public health challenges, such as chronic pain. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Department of Defense (DoD) Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Pain Management Collaboratory (PMC) supports 11 large-scale, multisite, embedded pragmatic clinical trials (PCTs) in military and veteran health systems. The PMC rapidly developed and enacted a plan to address key issues in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The PMC tracked and collaborated in developing plans for addressing COVID-19 impacts across multiple domains and characterized the impact of COVID-19 on PCT operations, including delays in recruitment and revisions of study protocols. A harmonized participant questionnaire will facilitate later meta-analyses and cross-study comparisons of the impact of COVID-19 across all 11 PCTs. The pandemic has affected intervention delivery, outcomes, regulatory and ethics issues, participant recruitment, and study design. The PMC took concrete steps to ensure scientific rigor while encouraging flexibility in the PCTs, while paying close attention to minimizing the burden on research participants, investigators, and clinical care teams. Sudden changes in the delivery of pain management interventions will probably alter treatment effects measured via PMC PCTs. Through the use of harmonized instruments and surveys, we are capturing these changes and plan to monitor the impact on research practices, as well as on health outcomes. Analyses of patient-reported measures over time will inform potential relationships between chronic pain, mental health, and various socioeconomic stressors common among Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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An investigation of memory bias in chronic pain patients

Pain ◽

10.1016/0304-3959(90)92746-d ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 41 ◽

pp. S315 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

S. Pearce ◽

A. Erskine ◽

J. Skinner

Keyword(s):

Chronic Pain ◽

Memory Bias ◽

Chronic Pain Patients ◽

Pain Patients

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A review: The research progress of chronic pain and microRNA relationship

10.1063/5.0020692 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Qiuling Xu ◽

Qian Niu ◽

Tao Liu

Keyword(s):

Chronic Pain ◽

Research Progress

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The Role of Bacteria and Its Derived Metabolites in Chronic Pain and Depression: Recent Findings and Research Progress

The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology ◽

10.1093/ijnp/pyz061 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 26-41 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Shan Li ◽

Dongyu Hua ◽

Qiaoyan Wang ◽

Ling Yang ◽

Xinlei Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fatty Acids ◽

Chronic Pain ◽

Gut Microbiota ◽

Reference Lists ◽

Short Chain Fatty Acids ◽

Research Progress ◽

Abnormal Behaviors ◽

Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis ◽

Secondary Bile Acids

Abstract Background Chronic pain is frequently comorbid with depression in clinical practice. Recently, alterations in gut microbiota and metabolites derived therefrom have been found to potentially contribute to abnormal behaviors and cognitive dysfunction via the “microbiota–gut–brain” axis. Methods PubMed was searched and we selected relevant studies before October 1, 2019. The search keyword string included “pain OR chronic pain” AND “gut microbiota OR metabolites”; “depression OR depressive disorder” AND “gut microbiota OR metabolites”. We also searched the reference lists of key articles manually. Results This review systematically summarized the recent evidence of gut microbiota and metabolites in chronic pain and depression in animal and human studies. The results showed the pathogenesis and therapeutics of chronic pain and depression might be partially due to gut microbiota dysbiosis. Importantly, bacteria-derived metabolites, including short-chain fatty acids, tryptophan-derived metabolites, and secondary bile acids, offer new insights into the potential linkage between key triggers in gut microbiota and potential mechanisms of depression. Conclusion Studying gut microbiota and its metabolites has contributed to the understanding of comorbidity of chronic pain and depression. Consequently, modulating dietary structures or supplementation of specific bacteria may be an available strategy for treating chronic pain and depression.

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