Chronic low back pain and depression

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Abstract
It is not clear whether the psychological disturbances associated with chronic low back pain are the cause or the result of the chronicity. It is also not clear whether increasing duration of low back pain is associated with depression. Three groups of patients (N = 148), with recent (0–6 months), relatively longstanding (6-24 months) and chronic (more than 24 months) low back pain were given the MMPI, Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (MAACL), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Low Back Pain Questionnaire (LBPQ). Increasing chronicity is associated with significant increases on MMPI Hs, D, HY, PT and MA scales, and on STAI Trait Anxiety scale. These results suggest that chronicity leads to the development of psychopathological characteristics and that these characteristics include a heightened awareness of somatic functioning and the vegetative aspects of the depressive syndrome, but that there is no increase in depressive mood or in the perception of the pain itself.