Depression and Anxiety Symptoms Relate to Distinct Components of Pain Experience among Patients with Breast Cancer

Abstract

Breast cancer is a leading cancer diagnosis among women worldwide, with more than 210,000 new cases and 40,000 deaths per year in the United States. Pain, anxiety, and depression can be significant factors during the course of breast cancer. Pain is a complex experience with sensory, affective, and cognitive dimensions. While depression and anxiety symptoms are relatively common among breast cancer patients, little is known about the relation between these psychiatric factors and distinct components of the pain experience. In the present study 60 females presenting to an NCI-designated Cancer Center with newly diagnosed breast cancer completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies 10-item Depression Scale, the State Instrument of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the McGill Pain Questionnaire. Findings indicate that anxiety and depression are common among newly diagnosed breast cancer patients; furthermore, patients experience an appreciable amount of pain even before oncologic treatment starts. State anxiety serves as a predictor of the sensory dimension of the pain experience, whereas depression serves as a predictor of the affective dimension of the pain experience.

Predictors of substance abuse treatment participation among homeless adults

“…Predictors of anxiety on cancer patients were severe pain (Galloway et al, 2012), functional limitations (Khan, Amatya, Pallant, & Rajapaska, 2012), and history of traumatic experiences (Green et al, 2000). Recently, Ploos van Amstel et al (2013) determined that more than one third of breast cancer survivors experienced emotional distress (anxiety, depression, etc.…”

Anxiety, depression and pain-related coping behaviors with pain behaviors in cancer patients who are aware or unaware of their cancer

“…However, Tavoli et al [3] reported differences in the patients who experienced pain for a long time and prolonged disease duration. A study by Galloway et al [23] that enrolled women with breast cancer also supported a correlation between the duration of pain and anxiety or depression. The authors did not find a relation between the severity of pain and anxiety or depression at 3-months follow-up, whereas they did find that pain was related to both anxiety and depression at an18-months follow-up.…”

“…Recent studies have reported that pain and the severity of pain were significantly associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms. [2,[23][24][25][26][27] It has been suggested that anxiety and depression independently contributed to the emergence of mental health and somatic symptoms, [27] pain-aggravated mood disorders. [25] Thus, a significant correlation between physical symptoms, such as pain, and depression and/or anxiety might be more common in depressed cancer patients.…”

Evidence and consensus recommendations for the pharmacological management of pain in India

“…The most commonly associated psychological comorbidities in pain are depression and anxiety 178–180. These may be preexisting or may result from the pain itself, often aggravated in untreated or undertreated chronic pain 181. Presence of depression is known to have considerable impact on outcomes of pain treatment, signifying the two-way relationship between pain and depression.…”