Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41885888›Full record

ArticleHealth psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association2026

Temporal pathways between alexithymia, psychological distress, and pain: An autoregressive mediation analysis.

Rachel V Aaron, Scott G Ravyts, Jennifer S De La Rosa, Claudia M Campbell, Chung Jung Mun

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Article in Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Rachel V AaronDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.ORCID 0000-0002-2182-8566
Scott G RavytsDepartment of Psychological Science, University of North Carolina at Charlotte.ORCID 0000-0003-3384-4325
Jennifer S De La RosaDepartment of Family and Community Medicine, University of Arizona.ORCID 0000-0001-6291-5618
Claudia M CampbellDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.ORCID 0000-0002-5420-4207
Chung Jung MunDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.ORCID 0000-0002-2439-8100

Funding

University of Michigan (UM) HEAL Initiative National K12 Clinical Pain Career Development Program (UM-HCPDP)K12NS130673 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · PI Daniel J Clauw, Steven Edward Harte · 2022 to 2026
$12.5M
Ethnic differences in endogenous pain regulation: PET imaging of opioid receptorsR01MD009063 · NIMHD · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI CAMPBELL, CLAUDIA MICHELLE · 2014 to 2018
$2.1M
K12 Program at the Southwest Center for Advancing Clinical and Translational Innovation (SW CACTI)K12TR005467 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO HEALTH SCIS CTR · PI Judy Lin Cannon, JASON A WERTHEIM · 2025 to 2026
$1.9M
Optimizing pain-related outcomes following orthopedic trauma: testing novel risk factors and determining the feasibility of a new pain psychology interventionK23HD104934 · NICHD · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI Rachel V. Aaron · 2022 to 2026
$756k
Evaluating dynamic associations between pain catastrophizing and the effect of cannabinoidsF32DA049393 · NIDA · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI MUN, CHUNG JUNG · 2019 to 2020
$127k
NCATS NIH HHS K12 TR005467NICHD NIH HHS K23 HD104934NIDA NIH HHS F32 DA049393NIH HHSNIMHD NIH HHS R01 MD009063NINDS NIH HHS K12 NS130673
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveAlexithymia-a cluster of emotional deficits, including difficulties identifying and describing one's feelings-is elevated in chronic pain and is cross-sectionally related to worse pain-related outcomes. However, the temporal relationships between alexithymia and pain-related outcomes are unclear. The current study aimed to test the direct and indirect effects of alexithymia on pain-related outcomes (i.e., pain severity and pain interference), via psychological distress (i.e., elevated symptoms of depression and anxiety), using longitudinal data.

methodThis 2-year prospective cohort study (

resultsAlexithymia had a significant indirect effect on pain interference through psychological distress. The opposite pattern was not observed as pain interference did not directly or indirectly predict alexithymia, increasing confidence in alexithymia as a risk factor for pain interference. Psychological distress did not mediate the relationship between alexithymia and pain severity.

conclusionsAlthough cross-sectional associations between alexithymia and chronic pain have been well established, their temporal relationship and underlying mechanisms have been unclear. The current findings demonstrate that alexithymia is indirectly related to worse pain interference via heightened psychological distress, pointing to alexithymia and psychological distress as targets of psychological intervention to improve physical function. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Indexed as

Affective SymptomsChronic PainPsychological DistressStress, PsychologicalAdultFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleMediation AnalysisMiddle AgedProspective StudiesUnited States

Identifiers

PMID41885888
PMCPMC13138469

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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.