Affecting the Future

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Abstract
The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate chronic pain patients' perceptions of the pain-future relation, more specifically, of the way such perceptions affect: (1) well-being and coping; (2) psychosocial organization/adaptation; and (3) experienced agency in a clinical context. In-depth interviews with 18 chronic pain patients were conducted in order to generate categories describing the influence of chronic pain on the patient's perception of the future. The analysis resulted in six general conceptual patterns: diagnosis - `a signpost' to the future; changes in prospective thinking and feeling; `frozen futures'; changed strategies for coping with the future; perceived degree of agency; and approaches to handling conflicts in a clinical setting. The results call for more `time empathy' in patient-doctor encounters.