A Comparative Study of Psychopathology, Hostility and Gender in Chronic Pain Patients

Background: An interaction between sex and pain has been remarked, in a way that gender differences can modulate pain threshold and intensity. Psychopathology symptoms as depression, seems to occur more often in women with chronic pain than men. Guilt, anxiety, somatization and hostility are associated with pain experience and their levels are affected by gender as well. Objective of this study was to examine how gender differences in pain conditions interact with psychopathology and trait hostility.Method: The sample consisted of 293 (125 males and 168 females) patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Patients were assigned to fill in a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R), measuring psychopathology, the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire (HDHQ) and the Numeric Rating Scale of Pain, measuring pain’s intensity.Results: female participants scored significantly higher in psychopathology and intropunitiveness. There were non significant differences in extrapunitiveness between two sexes. Most of the subscales of SCL-90-R and HDHQ showed significant correlations to the Numeric Rating Scale of Pain and negative correlations to the use of analgesics.Conclusion: patient’s gender seemed to affect pain intensity and the consumption of analgesics drugs. In addition, female chronic pain patients showed greater levels of pain intensity, somatization, depression, self-criticism and guilt.