Cognitive factors associated with facial pain

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Pain Management
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Background:

• Emotional distress is a key factor in facial pain development and maintenance.
• Existing emotional distress measures are often lengthy or lack clear treatment implications.
• Cognitive-behavioral interventions require assessment tools targeting specific cognitive/behavioral changes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare rational beliefs in symptomatic treatment-seeking facial pain sufferers, non-treatment-seeking facial pain sufferers, and healthy controls.
• To assess the utility of the Rational Beliefs Inventory (RBI) in identifying psychological targets for facial pain treatment.

Main Methods:

• Employed a oneway Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA).
• Utilized the Rational Beliefs Inventory (RBI), a measure based on Rational Emotive Therapy (RET).
• Compared three groups: treatment-seeking facial pain (N=25), non-treatment-seeking facial pain (N=48), and healthy controls (N=70).

Main Results:

• Significant differences were found across groups on the total RBI score.
• Specific subscales of the RBI also revealed significant group differences.
• Facial pain sufferers, as a group, endorsed more maladaptive beliefs.

Conclusions:

• Facial pain sufferers generally hold maladaptive beliefs.
• These maladaptive beliefs identified by the RBI are clinically significant.
• Findings support the use of cognitive-behavioral treatment approaches for facial pain.