JUST PUBLISHED: Resilience and Responses to Persistent Pain

The concept of resilience is of considerable interest in clinical practice.  The resilient person shows relatively speedy recovery from a disturbance and an ability to resume their former work practices, habits and normal life.  In addition, they are able to maintain that recovery over the long-term.

The maintenance of recovery is of particular interest in patients suffering from chronic pain, since the presence of persistent pain leads to a raft of behavioural and cognitive changes all aimed at coping with the pain.  And since the pain is persistent, the adaptations are chronic, be they beneficial or not.

In a recently published study, Christie Mason, Toby Newton-John and Mick Hunter interviewed 101 patients attending a pain clinic and administered a range of self-report and assessment scales.  The scales covered areas of perceived pain intensity; attitudes to the pain; functional disability; mental health and wellbeing and available social support, as well as measures of resilience and self-reliance.

The results showed clear association between greater pain intensity and poor coping scores.  The measures of coping (scores showing fear of movement and of re-injury, evidence of catastrophising, depression and disability) were negatively associated with measures of resilience and self-efficacy.  Importantly, for this group, there was a significant positive relationship between resilience and the likelihood of the patient attending work.  However, the very strong relationship between pain intensity and depression, which explained much of the variance in a hierarchical regression of the variables, illustrates the difficulties faced by clinicians in treating these patients.

For further information, please see the following article:

Newton-John TR, Mason C, & Hunter M (2014). The role of resilience in adjustment and coping with chronic pain. Rehabilitation psychology, 59 (3), 360-5 PMID: 25019306

***Our hearty congratulations go to Christie Mason on her recent graduation with a Clinical Doctorate.***

JUST PUBLISHED: Sexuality and Suicide - Call for a More Nuanced Approach

The evidence that sexual minorities (e.g., lesbians, gay males, bisexuals, and those questioning their sexuality: LGBQ) are at increased risk of suicide is fairly robust. This study (anonymous, online survey, N = 1,016), as several others, found LGBQ participants were more likely to meet standardized assessment criteria for suicide-risk.

Knowing which groups are at increased risk of suicide provides great help for outreach, treatment and prevention. Unfortunately, some may view at-risk groups in a tick box manner, recognizing the risk but not looking for nuances in risk behaviors. This study was the first to methodically compare suicide-risk heterosexuals with suicide-risk LGBQ.

Matched pairs analyses compared suicide-risk LGBQ and suicide-risk heterosexuals (n = 79; aged 18 – 76) on suicidal behaviors (i.e., ideation, attempts, disclosure of suicidal intent, and prediction of future suicide). As shown in previous research, LGBQ reported greater likelihood to disclose their suicidal intent. LGBQ also reported more suicide attempts and were more likely to predict future attempts. However, the two groups showed no statistically significant differences on suicidal ideation. Ideation was assessed through current wish to die, past year ideation, and through engagement in an internal debate on whether to live or die (lifetime).

This study demonstrated the necessity of assessing suicide risk beyond thoughts, and looking at a more complete scenario of risk behaviors. This study showed that looking beyond the tick box label of “high risk” can yield important and interesting details of how a group can be at increased risk.


For more information, please see the following journal article:

Harris, K. (2013). Sexuality and Suicidality: Matched-Pairs Analyses Reveal Unique Characteristics in Non-Heterosexual Suicidal Behaviors Archives of Sexual Behavior DOI: 10.1007/s10508-013-0112-2

or email Keith.Harris@newcastle.edu.au