Is illness behaviour related to chronicity in patients with intractable pain?

Abstract

One hundred patients, referred for the management of intractable pain, completed a 52-item Illness Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ). Responses were scored on 7 scales: general hypochondriasis, disease conviction, psychological vs. somatic perception of illness, affective inhibition, affective disturbance, denial and irritability. IBQ scale profiles were used to study the relationship between chronicity of pain and pattern of illness behavior reported. Except in the case of 1 scale, no significant correlation emerged. This overall lack of association between chronicity and illness behavior remained even when the patient sample was restricted to those 20 patients having substantial organic pathology associated with their pain. Degree of chronicity is unlikely to play a major role in determining the illness behavior manifested by patients with intractable pain.