Early maladaptive schemas in Finnish adult chronic male and female pain patients

Abstract

Abstract Background and aims of the study The connection between chronic pain and traumatic experiences in childhood has been established in several studies. The association of emotional maltreatment with chronic pain has been studied, but to a lesser degree. Schema therapy [24] is an extension of cognitive therapy and presents the early maladaptive schema (EMS) concept. EMSs reflect early, mainly emotional maltreatment. The aim of the present study was to examine the existence of EMSs, the association between EMSs and pain variables and EMS driven patterns. Patients and measures The study consisted of 271 first visit pain patients. Their socio-demographic data, pain variables and pain disability were assessed. The presence of EMSs was measured using the Young Schema Questionnaire Short Form Extended. One hundred and three successive participants were also interviewed according to the cognitive case conceptualization. Results More than half (58.3%) of the chronic pain patients scored EMSs as meaningful. The patients with meaningful EMSs had significantly higher pain intensity, duration of pain and pain disability. The two most frequently occurring EMSs in male pain patients were Unrelenting Standards/Hypercriticalness (US) (36.2%) and Self-Sacrifice (SS) (23.6%) and in female pain patients SS (40.3%) and US (27.1%). The speech contents of five of the highest scoring US and SS male and female patients (n = 20) were analyzed. The analyses showed schema driven behavior which exacerbated the pain situation. US and SS schemas had a stronger motivational effect on their behavior than the pain itself. Regression analyses showed that Self-Sacrifice schema in women and Emotional Deprivation schema in the total sample predicted pain disability as did pain intensity and the number of pain locations. Conclusions This study suggested that a remarkable amount of chronic pain patients may suffer from early maladaptive schemas which have an effect on their current pain situation and may reflect underlying early emotional maltreatment.