Psychologic distress of chronic pain sufferers and their spouses

Recent research has begun to document the relationship between chronic pain and psychologic distress among pain patients, yet little attention has been given to the spouses' reaction to the chronic pain condition. The results of this research using the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) to assess the psychologic distress among both chronic pain sufferers and spouses (61 couples) reveal elevated distress scores among both groups when compared with the norms from a nonpatient sample. Patients and spouses present similar profiles according to the SCL-90 subscales, with patients' scores significantly higher on the somatization, hostility, and psychoticism subscales. No differences by sex were found.