Structural Model of Pain Catastrophizing in Emotional Eating: The Mediating Role of Anxiety Sensitivity and Pain-Related Fear in People with Chronic Pain

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to examine the mediating role of anxiety sensitivity and pain-related fear in the relationship between pain catastrophizing and emotional eating in people with chronic pain. The research method is descriptive-correlational. The statistical population includes patients with chronic pain who were treated in Tehran clinics in districts 4 and 8 in the spring, summer, and fall of 2019. 300 of them were selected by purposive sampling. Body mass index calculation and questionnaires Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), Pain Anxiety Symptoms (PAS) and Pain Catastrophizing Scales (PCS) were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling in Amos 21 software. Results confirmed the mediating role of anxiety sensitivity (P = 0.05, t = 1.954, β = 0.137) and anxiety related to pain (P = 0.001, t = 3.244, β = 0.106) in the association between pain catastrophizing and emotional eating. 46.3% of the variance in emotional eating can be explained by pain catastrophizing, anxiety sensitivity, and pain-related anxiety. It seems that to prevent and treat emotional eating in people with pain and to maintain the therapeutic effect, pain-related cognitive and emotional structures such as anxiety sensitivity and pain-related anxiety should be targeted for therapeutic intervention.

Keywords

• emotional eating
• pain-related anxiety
• anxiety sensitivity
• pain catastrophizing