The Relationship between Anger, Perception of Fault, and Adjustment to Chronic Pain

The p resent literature indicates that chronic pain patients who report higher levels of anger, reported poor adjustment to pain adjustment. In this study, 149 chronic pain patients completed the followingmeasures: moo d, p hysica l disa bilit y, an ger, p ain intensity, pain-related interference with daily a ct ivit ie s a n d p h ysica l a n d me n t a l components of quality of life. In addition, all p at ient s we re re quir ed t o answer the following question: "Who (or what) do you think is responsible for the onset of your pain? Anger was prevalent among the study sample; Patients who scored higher in anger were more depressed and scored lower in the mental components of quality of life. In the p resent study, p atiens were classified according to their response to the question: "Who (or what) do you think is responsible for the onset of your pain?" The resulting three groups did not differ in pain intensity and mental and p hysical components of quality of life. However, patients who held the belief that their pain resulted from the in ten t o r neglige nce o f some one else (Group3) scored higher on depression and anger,compared to the patients in groups 1 and 2. Furthermore, patients in group 3 scored higher on p hysical disability and pain-related interference in daily activities, relative to patients in group 2. The patients in Groups 1 and 2 were not statistically different in any of the study variables.