2017 Volume 37 Issue 3 Pages 388-396
Psychological factors can increase the severity, intensity and duration of pain. Psychophysiological studies on anger, anger expression and chronic pain were reviewed and summarized. Anger is a negative affection. When anger increases, it will increase the unpleasant emotional component of pain. Some studies revealed that the anger management style ‘anger-in’ shows more intense and frequent pain than ‘anger-out’ style in chronic pain patients. We use the ‘expression poster’ and the ‘expression cards’ so that the chronic pain patient is able to express the authentic feelings, because some of the patients are alexithymic, and/or often express racket feelings. From the angle of the anger management, several therapeutic approaches, such as transactional analysis, assertiveness training, expressive arts therapy, mindfulness training, and validation strategies in dialectical behavioral therapy were outlined.
