Thought Suppression as a Mediator of the Association Between Depressed Mood and Prescription Opioid Craving Among Chronic Pain Patients

Publication Date

2-2016

Document Type

Article

Organizational Units

Graduate School of Social Work

Keywords

Opioid craving, Suppression, Depression, Emotion regulation, Self-medication, Chronic pain

Abstract

Emerging research suggests that prescription opioid craving is associated with negative mood and depression, but less is known about cognitive factors linking depressive symptoms to opioid craving among adults with chronic pain. The present cross-sectional study examined thought suppression as a mediator of the relation between depression and prescription opioid craving in a sample of chronic pain patients receiving long-term opioid pharmacotherapy. Data were obtained from 115 chronic pain patients recruited from primary care, pain, and neurology clinics who had taken prescription opioids daily or nearly every day for ≥90 days prior to assessment. In this sample, 60 % of participants met DSM-IV criteria for current major depressive disorder. Depressed mood (r = .36, p < .001) and thought suppression (r = .33, p < .001) were significantly correlated with opioid craving. Multivariate path analyses with bootstrapping indicated the presence of a significant indirect effect of thought suppression on the association between depressed mood and opioid craving (indirect effect = .09, 95 % CI .01, .20). Sensitivity analyses showed a similar indirect effect of suppression linking major depressive disorder diagnosis and opioid craving. Attempts to suppress distressing and intrusive thoughts may result in increased craving to use opioids among chronic pain patients with depressive symptoms. Results highlight the need for interventions that mitigate thought suppression among adults with pain and mood disorders.

Copyright Date

9-7-2015

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Rights Holder

Springer Science+Business Media

Provenance

Received from CHORUS

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

11 pgs

File Size

452 KB

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by Springer Science+Business Media. User is responsible for all copyright compliance. This article was originally published as:

Garland, E.L., Brown, S.M., & Howard, M.O. (2016). Thought suppression as a mediator of the association between depressed mood and prescription opioid craving among chronic pain patients. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 39(1), 128-138. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-015-9675-9

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Publication Title

Journal of Behavioral Medicine

Volume

39

Issue

1

First Page

128

Last Page

138

ISSN

1573-3521

PubMed ID

26345263

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