According to a study in The Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society, chronic pain suffered by one spouse can affect marital communication and influence the partner’s ability to cope with a chronic pain condition.
Psychological research has demonstrated that the timing and type of emotion expressed by a person’s behavior depends on the way their spouse or partner responds to their individual behavior. Effective emotional regulation, trust and closeness is promoted if the partner validates the emotions by showing respect and acceptance, whilst invalidating emotions through hostility or ignorance increases emotional distance and is linked to poor marital adjustment and depression.
Researchers from Wayne State University and the Norwegian Center for Addiction Research decided to test how the sequences and base rates of couples’ affective interactions related to pain and emotional adjustment in both partners. According to their theory, invalidating behavior followed by undermining behavior by either partner would be linked to more severe pain, less marital satisfaction and depression, and that invalidation followed by acknowledgment of neutral remark would be linked to better adjustment.
Based on earlier research that showed women to react more profoundly to pain and affective communication than men, they also believed that the link between spousal behavior and pain adjustment would be substantially stronger if it was the woman suffering the pain.
The researchers recruited 78 adults with chronic pain and their spouses through newspaper advertising in a Midwestern U.S. city through. Couples were defined as eligible for the study if one spouse had a musculoskeletal pain condition that has lasted longer than six months. 58% of the participants evaluated were female; with lower back pain being the most frequently reported site of pain, and the most prevalent diagnoses being osteoarthritis, disc problems and fibromyalgia.
Researchers interviewed the participats for three hours, of which the final 15 minutes were devoted to discussing a disagreeable topic, such as family finances. They interviewed each partner regarding their views on the problem topic; they were subsequently instructed the couples to discuss and make progress toward resolving the issue.
Contrary to the researchers’ theory, the findings revealed that men who were in pain are more likely to respond negatively to their partner’s invalidation by appearing more sensitive to their partners’ responses. This finding also contradicts earlier research that demonstrated women to be more likely to experience greater pain, distress and depression.
The researchers suggest that pain might be disruptive to a male’s traditional role of being the family provider, and therefore causing them to be more vulnerable to emotional turmoil from their partner’s invalidating behaviors.
The researchers believe that from a clinical perspective, the study demonstrates patient gender to be a significant factor in assessing and treating pain patients and couples.
They suggest that interventions should not be aimed solely on the patient in pain; clinicians should target the couple to help reduce invalidating behaviors and remarks as well as disruptive responses to the person in pain. They recommend empathy training as intervention.
Written by Petra Rattue