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The theory that chronic pain can be fueled by avoidance of pain-related stimuli has been well described and is consistent with the close relation between the neurophysiologic systems controlling pain and fear. This intriguing study evaluated the prevalence of nonpain fear among patients with chronic pain.
Researchers compared 130 patients who had physically unexplained chronic pain with 93 "medically ill" controls who were undergoing evaluation for vertigo or imbalance. All patients completed the Fear Questionnaire, which measures the degree of fear and avoidance related to three specific phobias: agoraphobia, social phobia, and blood, injury, or illness phobia.
When compared with controls, patients with chronic pain were significantly more f…