Anger, pain behaviour and feelings of well-being amongst long-term arthritis sufferers

Anger, pain behaviour and feelings of well-being amongst long-term arthritis sufferers

Anger is rarely investigated in the chronic pain disability research despite the identification of a substantial association between negative affect and chronic pain. It seems that research into depression and anxiety is far more common. The present exploratory study examined the extent and nature of self-reported anger in a sample of 28 male and 64 female rheumatoid or osteoarthritis sufferers and the impact of anger on their perceived well-being. Interestingly, anger levels were no higher than those of the general normative population despite severe pain and restricted life activities over many years. Discussion canvasses the possibilities that participants were not angry at all, or that early anger has dissipated over the decades or that public admissions of anger were hidden and repressed, perhaps as being unhelpful. The relationships between arthritis related impairment, anger and well-being were explored with regression analyses revealing that while none of the sub-scale scores on anger significantly predicted overall well-being, both Trait-Anger and Anger Expression-Out contributed significantly to the prediction of specific aspects of well-being such as satisfaction with health and life achievement. The implications for clinical practice and research are discussed, particularly in the light of alternative anger dimensions being explored by Spielberger and colleagues.

Abstract published.