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The Role of Anxiety Sensitivity in the Co-Morbid Experiencing of Chronic Pain and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Lyall, Sarah E The Role of Anxiety Sensitivity in the Co-Morbid Experiencing of Chronic Pain and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. 2015. Radford University, Dissertation. Radford University Scholars' Repository.

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Abstract

Currently there are two theories as to the role of anxiety sensitivity in the co-morbid experiencing of chronic pain and PTSD in veterans. The first theory is that of mutual maintenance which proposed seven different avenues through which PTSD and chronic pain serve to maintain each other. One of the avenues involves the role of anxiety sensitivity. The anxiety symptoms associated with anxiety sensitivity are misinterpreted as indicative of harm, which could lead to a misinterpretation of the physical sensations associated with pain. The second theory which pertains to the co-morbidity of PTSD and chronic pain is the shared vulnerability theory. This theory postulates that PTSD and chronic pain tend to co-occur due to an underlying shared vulnerability for the two diagnoses. As in the mutual maintenance theory, the shared vulnerability theory also implicates anxiety sensitivity as playing a role in the co-morbidity between the two disorders. At this time, only one study has examined the role of anxiety sensitivity in the co-morbid experiencing of PTSD and pain; the study found that both depression and anxiety sensitivity accounted for significant amounts of variability scores for both PTSD and pain. Results of the current study, utilizing Baron and Kenny’s mediational model found that anxiety sensitivity impacted the experiencing of the effects of pain on daily functioning and PTSD, even when Depression was utilized as a control variable. The current study failed to find a relationship between anxiety sensitivity and the experiencing of the effects of pain on daily living or the effects of pain on significant other relationships.

Item Type: Dissertation
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Divisions: Radford University > College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences > Department of Psychology
Date Deposited: 25 May 2016 15:21
Last Modified: 19 Apr 2023 17:07
URI: http://wagner.radford.edu/id/eprint/235

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