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There is solid evidence of an association between several psychological flexibility processes, particularly pain acceptance, and adaptation to chronic pain. However, there are relatively few studies on the relationship between pain acceptance and opioid misuse in chronic pain patients. Thus, the aim of the present study was to test a hypothetical model in which pain acceptance would regulate pain sensations and pain-related thoughts and emotions, which would be related to opioid misuse. The sample comprised 140 chronic pain patients attending two hospitals. All patients were receiving pharmacological treatment, including opioid analgesics. Structural equation modelling analyses showed a significant association between higher pain acceptance and lower pain intensity and catastrophizing, and lower levels of anxiety and depression. Only higher anxiety and depression were significantly associated with increased opioid misuse. The results suggest that levels of anxiety, depression, and pain acceptance must be assessed before opioids are prescribed. Pain acceptance implies a relationship with internal events that protects against anxiety and depression and thus against opioid misuse. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy appears to be particularly appropriate for these patients.

Background : Psychological factors of patients may influence physicians' decisions on prescribing opioid analgesics. However, few studies have sought to identify these factors. The present study had a double objective: (1) To identify the individual factors that differentiate patients who had been prescribed opioids for the management of chronic back pain from those who had not been prescribed opioids and (2) to determine which factors make significant and independent contributions to the prediction of opioid prescribing. Methods : A total of 675 patients from four primary care centers were included in the sample. Variables included sex, age, pain intensity, depressive symptoms, pain catastrophizing, and pain acceptance. Results : Although no differences were found between men and women, participants with chronic noncancer pain who were prescribed opioids were older, reported higher levels of pain intensity and depressive symptoms, and reported lower levels of pain-acceptance. An independent association was found between pain intensity and depressive symptoms and opioid prescribing. Conclusions : The findings suggest that patient factors influence physicians' decisions on prescribing opioids. It may be useful for primary care physicians to be aware of the potential of these factors to bias their treatment decisions.

Longitudinal research is needed to determine predictive factors of healthcare utilization and medication intake in people with non-specific spinal pain. This study aims to prospectively examine the predictive value of sex, age, work status, pain intensity, pain acceptance, disability, depression, pain anxiety, and catastrophizing in relation to healthcare utilization and medication intake in people with non-specific spinal pain. Participants were 79 patients with non-specific spinal pain of 6 to 9 months' duration. They were followed-up at 6 months and 12 months. At enrolment they were administered a battery of questionnaires assessing the predictive variables. Healthcare utilization and medication intake were assessed at follow-ups 1 and 2. At follow-up 1, higher pain acceptance was associated with less healthcare utilization and less medication intake, while male sex was associated with less medication intake. At follow-up 2, higher pain-related disability was associated with higher healthcare use, and pain intensity was associated with higher medication intake. These results suggest that during the early stages of non-specific spinal pain chronification, pain acceptance and the avoidance of pain-related disability-understood as giving up normal activities-can lead to reductions in healthcare utilization and medication intake.

This longitudinal study explored whether activity patterns change over time in a sample of 56 individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain over a 15-day period. Once a day, the participants recorded their level of pain intensity and the degree to which they had engaged in several specific activity patterns. Linear mixed models with random coefficients were used to investigate the rate of change in the activity patterns. Age, sex, pain intensity, and pain duration were controlled. The results show that excessive persistence was the only self-reported activity pattern to show a linear change over the 15-day period. There was a decrease in excessive persistence, and this decrease was slower with higher levels of activity avoidance. However, no significant association was found between sex, age, pain intensity, and pain duration and excessive persistence at baseline or change over time. At baseline, a positive association was found between excessive persistence and pain avoidance, pain-related persistence, and pacing to reduce pain, and a negative association was found between excessive persistence and pacing to save energy for valued activities. This result suggests a profile characterized by alternate periods of high and low activity that, in this study, were unrelated to longitudinal changes in pain intensity., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.