The Effect of Laboratory-Induced Depressed Mood State on Responses to Pain

Abstract Some researchers have suggested that a depressed mood state is associated with alterations in responses to pain. The authors examined cognitive, behavioral, and affective responses of 75 randomly assigned participants to depressed, neutral, or elated mood state induction conditions and subjected them to the cold-pressor task. Because they were unsuccessful in inducing elated moods, the authors used only the data for the depressed and neutral states as they measured pain threshold, tolerance, and unpleasantness during the test. After the task, the authors measured sensory, affective, and evaluative responses to the cold-pressor pain, as well as the participants' catastrophizing ideation about the painful procedure. The depressed mood state group, compared with the neutral group, had significantly lower cold-pressor tolerance times and higher pain catastrophizing scores. These results support previous findings that a depressed mood state may be associated with alterations in some pain responses. Index Terms: depressed mood statedepressionpainpain catastrophizingpain tolerance Additional informationNotes on contributorsScott G. Willoughby Dr Willoughby is a clinical psychologist at Forrest General Hospital, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and Dr Hailey is a professor and assistant chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, where Ms Mulkana and Ms Rowe are studying for doctoral degrees in clinical psychology.