Process / pipelinepain-related cognition and emotion
Pain Catastrophizing Scale
The Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) is a 13-item self-report questionnaire developed by Sullivan, Bishop, and Pivik in 1995 to measure catastrophic thinking about pain—the tendency to magnify pain threat, ruminate about pain, and feel helpless in response to pain. Elevated catastrophizing predicts worse pain outcomes and is a key treatment target in cognitive-behavioral pain management.
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Sources
- Sullivan, M.J., Bishop, S.R., & Pivik, J. (1995). The Pain Catastrophizing Scale: Development and validation. Psychological Assessment, 7(4), 524-532. DOI: 10.1037/1040-3590.7.4.524 ↗
- Sullivan, M.J.L., Thorn, B., Haythornthwaite, J.A., et al. (2001). Theoretical perspectives on the relation between catastrophizing and pain. Clinical Journal of Pain, 17(1), 52-64. DOI: 10.1097/00002508-200103000-00008 ↗
- Osman, A., Barrios, F.X., Gutierrez, P.M., et al. (2000). The Pain Catastrophizing Scale: Further psychometric evaluation with adult samples. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 23(4), 351-365. DOI: 10.1023/A:1005548801037 ↗