RESEARCH ARTICLE


PTSD Symptoms Mediate the Effect of Attachment on Pain and Somatisation after Whiplash Injury



Tonny Elmose Andersen1, *, Ask Elklit 1, Ole Brink 2
1 Department of Psychology, University of Southern, Denmark
2 Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark


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Creative Commons License
© Andersen et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Psychology, University of Southern, Campusvej 55, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark; Tel: +45 20612003; E-mail: tandersen@health.sdu.dk


Abstract

Introduction:

The development of persistent pain post-whiplash injury is still an unresolved mystery despite the fact that approximately 50% of individuals reporting whiplash develop persistent pain. There is agreement that high initial pain and PTSD symptoms are indicators of a poor prognosis after whiplash injury. Recently attachment insecurity has been proposed as a vulnerability factor for both pain and PTSD. In order to guide treatment it is important to examine possible mechanisms which may cause persistent pain and medically unexplained symptoms after a whiplash injury.

Aim:

The present study examines attachment insecurity and PTSD symptoms as possible vulnerability factors in relation to high levels of pain and somatisation after sub-acute whiplash injury.

Methods:

Data were collected from 327 patients (women = 204) referred consecutively to the emergency unit after acute whiplash injury. Within 1-month post injury, patients answered a questionnaire regarding attachment insecurity, pain, somatisation, and PTSD symptoms. Multiple mediation analyses were performed to assess whether the PTSD symptom clusters mediated the association between attachment insecurity, pain, and somatisation.

Results:

A total of 15% fulfilled the DSM-IV symptom cluster criteria for a possible PTSD diagnosis and 11.6% fulfilled the criteria for somatisation. PTSD increased the likelihood of belonging to the moderate-severe pain group three-fold. In relation to somatisation the likelihood of belonging to the group was almost increased four-fold. The PTSD symptom clusters of avoidance and hyperarousal mediated the association between the attachment dimensions, pain, and somatisation.

Conclusion:

Acknowledging that PTSD is part of the aetiology involved in explaining persistent symptoms after whiplash, may help sufferers to gain early and more suited treatment, which in turn may prevent the condition from becoming chronic.

Keywords: Whiplash, Attachment, PTSD, Pain, Somatisation.