{"title":"Interpersonal dynamics in chronic pain: The role of partner behaviors and interactions in chronic pain adjustment","authors":"Liesbet Goubert , Sónia F. Bernardes","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101997","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101997","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Chronic pain affects one-third of adults globally, leading to significant disability and healthcare costs. This review highlights the role of interpersonal processes in chronic pain adjustment, focusing on how partner behaviors and interactions influence patient well-being and functioning. It synthesizes recent theoretical perspectives and empirical findings, discussing both potentially maladaptive responses, such as solicitousness and invalidation, and adaptive behaviors, including validation of emotional disclosures and encouragement of valued activities. The review identifies gaps in current research, emphasizing the need for clearer conceptualizations of partner behaviors, advanced methodological approaches to capture dynamic interactions, and robust measurement tools. Prioritizing couple interventions that enhance communication, relational dynamics, and partner support for functional autonomy may lead to more holistic and effective chronic pain management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 101997"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143077451","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Anxiety and activism in response to climate change","authors":"Susan Clayton , McKenna F. Parnes","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101996","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101996","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Increasing evidence for climate change is leading to increasing awareness of human impacts, including threats to mental health as well as to social relationships. Experiencing the impacts of climate change, such as extreme weather events or wildfires, as well as awareness of the threat that climate change presents, can lead to anxiety, loss of social connections and support, and relational challenges including aggression and conflict. However, climate change awareness also has the potential to increase engagement in activism designed to promote an effective societal response. Activism can help to mitigate environmental harm as well as promote the well-being of those involved. Further research is needed to understand the circumstances in which climate anxiety can encourage activism, and the conditions and limits surrounding the positive impacts of activism on climate anxiety. Policies and programs could also be established to encourage activism among those distressed about climate change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 101996"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143075948","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Moritz Janas , Nikos Nikiforakis , Simon Siegenthaler
{"title":"Predicting norm change using threshold models","authors":"Moritz Janas , Nikos Nikiforakis , Simon Siegenthaler","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101994","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101994","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Anticipating changes in social norms presents a significant challenge for social scientists. Historical instances when researchers failed to predict dramatic shifts in collective behavior, along with the persistence of norms that impede welfare, underscore the need for a deeper understanding of how norms evolve. This article reviews current advancements in predicting norm change using threshold models. We document the rise of empirical studies, emphasize recent methodological developments, and discuss open questions for future research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 101994"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143035207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Current state of psychological therapies for children and adults with chronic pain: Where next?","authors":"Emma Fisher , Amanda C. de C Williams","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101993","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101993","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Pain is influenced by biological, psychological and social factors. Whilst analgesics are often prescribed for chronic pain, they provide little benefit for most patients. Psychological therapies manage pain and disability in children and adults with chronic pain. Evidence for cognitive behavioural therapies is the most robust in the field, although benefits are modest. Technological innovation has led to Internet-delivered therapies, but innovation in research often lags behind technological developments due to funding and regulation. Despite the promising outlook, critical gaps in our knowledge of how to manage pain need addressing for both adults and children and their parents. Here we summarise the evidence base of psychological therapies using Cochrane reviews, gaps, and the role of preventing chronic pain onset.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 101993"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143035236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Melissa A. Day , Dawn M. Ehde , Michele Sterling , Mark P. Jensen
{"title":"How therapist effects shape pain-related outcome improvement in psychological treatments for chronic pain","authors":"Melissa A. Day , Dawn M. Ehde , Michele Sterling , Mark P. Jensen","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101995","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101995","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Psychological chronic pain treatments have variable efficacy across individual patients, and on average tend to produce modest effects. In order to improve treatment outcomes, the past decade has seen a rapid increase in research focused on determining the mechanisms underlying treatment-related gains. The near exclusive focus of this research has been on uncovering patient-related mediators and moderators. However, treatment is delivered within the context of a patient-therapist dyad, and the dynamic contribution of therapist-related factors in influencing this dyad and patient outcomes has remained largely unexamined. The purpose of the current paper is to consider the unique contributions of therapist-related factors within our proposed “Top 3” dynamic, candidate contextual mechanisms: therapeutic working alliance, group climate/cohesion (i.e., in group therapy), and therapist quality. We define these process variables, identify validated measures, and review research documenting their effects on outcomes, drawing from the pain and broader psychotherapy literature. It is well established that some therapists are more effective than others, with so-called <em>exceptional</em> (i.e., not merely competent) therapists shown to produce effect sizes twice as large and demonstrate up to <em>ten times</em> better patient response rates. We focus on identifying the behaviors that such exceptional therapists engage in to harness the working alliance, build and maintain group cohesion and skilfully deliver and train patients in various therapeutic techniques. Future pain treatment outcome research evaluating the role of therapists in these “Top 3” process variables has the potential to provide novel insights into treatment mechanisms, inform therapist training, and to advance precision medicine.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 101995"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143035208","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Psychedelics and connectedness to natural and social worlds: An examination of the evidence and a proposed conceptual framework","authors":"Matthias Forstmann , Christina Sagioglou","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101992","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101992","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recent research suggests that serotonergic psychedelics may simultaneously enhance connectedness to both social and natural worlds. This article synthesizes current evidence regarding psychedelics' effects on nature relatedness and social connectedness, examining underlying mechanisms through the framework of self-other overlap. Psychedelics appear to facilitate self-expansion through two complementary mechanisms: ego dissolution, which temporarily alters self-boundaries, and enhanced emotional processing, which increases empathic concern. While studies demonstrate promising effects, interpretation is complicated by methodological challenges including functional unblinding, reliance on self-reports, and small sample sizes. We propose a multidimensional model of connectedness that distinguishes between perceptual, emotional, and epistemic domains, each showing distinct patterns in acute and enduring effects. Future research would benefit from behavioral measures, active placebos, and careful consideration of contextual factors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 101992"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142990226","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Accessibility of psychological treatments for chronic pain in low socioeconomic settings","authors":"Andrea K. Newman , Beverly E. Thorn","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101991","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101991","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Chronic pain is a highly prevalent condition globally. Low-socioeonomic (SES) populations tend to have higher prevalence rates and worsened pain outcomes. Although psychological interventions for chronic pain are considered an integral aspect of chronic pain treatment, psychological treatments are often not accessible for individuals with low-SES due to barriers such as poor insurance coverage, transportation and financial issues, lack of access to pain-trained providers, and educational resources with inappropriately high literacy levels. Within recent years, there have been some advances in methods to increase accessability. In this paper, we review recent methods to enhance accessability of psychological treatments for chronic pain in low-SES settings and suggest areas for future growth.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 101991"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142968099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Chronic pain and comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder: Potential mechanisms, conceptualizations, and interventions","authors":"Tonny Elmose Andersen , Sophie Lykkegaard Ravn","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101990","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101990","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common comorbidity to chronic pain, among others due to potentially shared posttraumatic origin. There has been growing interest in this field in the past decades, also providing some important studies to support our understanding of this comorbidity and how to address it in clinical practice. However, there are still important questions, particularly regarding the potentially shared vulnerabilities, mutually maintaining mechanisms, and how to best treat this comorbidity. This article provides a brief and up-to-date review of what we argue to be some of the most important studies within the field of chronic pain and comorbid PTSD and will discuss some of the current challenges and ways forward.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 101990"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142968048","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michael A. Owens , Pavithra A. Thomas , Corina Crowe , Burel R. Goodin , Demario S. Overstreet
{"title":"Quantitative sensory testing for pain: What exactly are we measuring?","authors":"Michael A. Owens , Pavithra A. Thomas , Corina Crowe , Burel R. Goodin , Demario S. Overstreet","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101988","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101988","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 101988"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142968064","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Understanding the individual's transition from acute to chronic disabling pain: Opportunities for improved care","authors":"Steven J. Linton , Michael K. Nicholas","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101989","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.101989","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>When acute pain persists, it is said to become chronic after 3 months. Considerable interest has focused on why acute pain appears to transition to chronic pain in some cases, but not all, especially when it becomes disabling. We examine our current understanding of the processes involved in the progression from an acute injury to disabling chronic pain. Rather than viewing this progression as a time dependent transition with specific static risk factors, we consider whether it might be more helpful to understand this evolution in terms of unique individual pathways. While brief self-report screening questionnaires assessing risk factors may enable us to stratify patients into risk levels, they do not provide information on the unique context and factors contributing to the disabling pain for each person. It is proposed that a 2-step process combining screening and individual assessment of those at high risk will enhance the prospect of both early identification and individually relevant interventions before more lasting changes emerge. Rather than being concerned with arbitrary time limits, it is argued that by aiming to understand the unique developmental pathway for those individuals identified as high risk, early, preventive interventions will be both viable and effective. Even so, there are barriers to the implementation of early assessment and matched treatments, and these remain a challenge for future research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 101989"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142968047","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}