ArticleThe journal of pain2023
Patient Responses to the Term Pain Catastrophizing: Thematic Analysis of Cross-sectional International Data.
Article in The journal of pain, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pain-related disability in functional neurological disorder (FND): the role of pain intensity and psychological factors.Journal of neurology · 2026Article
- Longitudinal Associations Among Pain Catastrophizing, Pain Interference, and Pain Medication Use in Adolescents With Chronic Pain.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Article
- Dissemination of Pediatric Chronic Pain Research: Views from Patients, Caregivers, and Healthcare Professionals.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Relationship closeness in the context of chronic pain: Daily benefits and challenges for partners.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2025Article
- Pain-related support seeking? Situating the response to pain within the social context using a sample of women experiencing menstrual pain.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2025Article
- Development and Validation of the Decisions to use Opioids Measure.Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses · 2025Article
- Clinician and researcher responses to the term pain catastrophizing and whether new terminology is needed: Content analysis of international, cross-sectional, qualitative survey data.The journal of pain · 2025Observational
- The intersectionality of chronic pain stigma and racial discrimination in Black and White adults with chronic low back pain.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Why is low educational attainment linked to worse pain and function in fibromyalgia?The journal of pain · 2025Observational
- A positive spin: large language models can help directors evaluate programs through their patients' own words.Pain reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Treating Anxiety-Based Cognitive Distortions Pertaining to Somatic Perception for Better Chronic Pain Outcomes: A Recommendation for Better Practice in the Present Day and the Cyber Age of Medicine.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Article
- A retrospective review of psychosocial correlates of chronic pain in cisgender, transgender, and gender-diverse youth receiving evaluation in interdisciplinary pediatric pain clinics.Canadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur · 2024Article
- Women exaggerate, men downplay: Gendered endorsement of emotional dramatization stereotypes contributes to gender bias in pain expectations.Journal of experimental social psychology · 2023Article
- Intersectionality as a theoretical framework for researching health inequities in chronic pain.British journal of pain · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
28 authors at 18 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Pain catastrophizing is understood as a negative cognitive and emotional response to pain. Researchers, advocates and patients have reported stigmatizing effects of the term in clinical settings and the media. We conducted an international study to investigate patient perspectives on the term pain catastrophizing. Open-ended electronic patient and caregiver proxy surveys were promoted internationally by collaborator stakeholders and through social media. 3,521 surveys were received from 47 countries (77.3% from the U.S.). The sample was mainly female (82.1%), with a mean age of 41.62 (SD 12.03) years; 95% reported ongoing pain and pain duration > 10 years (68.4%). Forty-five percent (n = 1,295) had heard of the term pain catastrophizing; 12% (n = 349) reported being described as a 'pain catastrophizer' by a clinician with associated high levels of feeling blamed, judged, and dismissed. We present qualitative thematic data analytics for responses to open-ended questions, with 32% of responses highlighting the problematic nature of the term. We present the patients' perspective on the term pain catastrophizing, its material effect on clinical experiences, and associations with negative gender stereotypes. Use of patient-centered terminology may be important for favorably shaping the social context of patients' experience of pain and pain care. PERSPECTIVE: Our international patient survey found that 45% had heard of the term pain catastrophizing, about one-third spontaneously rated the term as problematic, and 12% reported the term was applied to them with most stating this was a negative experience. Clinician education on patient-centered terminology may improve care and reduce stigma.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.