Pain Catastrophizing Scale

Measurement tool for catastrophizing

Catastrophic thinking has widely been recognized in the development and maintenance of hypochondriasis and anxiety disorders. This broadly accepted understanding has classified catastrophizing as a tendency to misinterpret and exaggerate situations that may be threatening. Pain is an undesirable sensory and emotional experience in response to potential or actual tissue damage. A general consensus of pain catastrophizing involves an exaggerated negative perception to painful stimuli. The components of catastrophizing that are considered primary were long under debate until the development of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) by Michael J. L. Sullivan and Scott R. Bishop of Dalhousie University in 1995. The PCS is a 13 item scale, with each item rated on a 5-point scale: 0 to 4. The PCS is broken into three subscales being magnification, rumination, and helplessness. The scale was developed as a self-report measurement tool that provided a valid index of catastrophizing in clinical and non-clinical populations. The results of the initial development and validation studies, performed by Sullivan and Bishop, indicated that the PCS is a reliable and valid measurement tool for catastrophizing, according to Sullivan and Bishop. The high test-retest relationships concluded that individuals may possess enduring beliefs with regards to the threat value of painful stimuli. It was also found that from a clinical perspective, the PCS may be useful in identifying individuals that may be more susceptible to high distress responses from aversive medical procedures such as chemotherapy or surgery.

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