Emotional repression and coping strategies in cancer chronic pain

Differences in coping styles and strategies have been hypothesised to explain some of the variation in adaptation among chronic pain patients. Taking as a framework Lazarus and Folkman's (1986) process-centred theory of stress and coping, the present study investigated the relation of emotional repression and coping strategies to pain and daily functioning in a group of cancer patients. One hundred and one subjects completed the Courtauld Emotional Control Scale (CECS), the Vanderbilt Pain Management Inventory (VPMI), the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) and the Activity scale of the Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI). Results of the LISREL 8.20 structural equation modelling indicated that: 1) emotional repression significantly influenced on pain through active coping, 2) active coping was significantly associated with reports of less pain while passive coping was associated with reports of greater pain, and 3) there was an inverse relationship between active and passive coping.