Pain Intensity, Pain-Related Anxiety, and Hazardous Drinking Among Individuals With PTSD

Abstract

Objective

Evidence suggests that pain intensity may be indirectly linked to hazardous drinking and PTSD symptom severity via pain-related anxiety. The goal of this analysis was to test the hypotheses in a population with PTSD symptoms that pain intensity would be positively and indirectly associated with hazardous drinking, alcohol dependence, alcohol-related problems, and PTSD symptom severity via pain-related anxiety.

Methods

Heavy drinkers with probable PTSD were recruited via Qualtrics panels (N = 371, 53% Female, M_age = 39.68, SD = 10.86). Linear regression and conditional process models were conducted to examine indirect associations between pain intensity and primary outcomes via pain-related anxiety.

Results

Pain intensity was found to be indirectly associated with hazardous drinking, alcohol dependence, alcohol-related problems, and PTSD symptom severity via greater pain-related anxiety.

Conclusion

These initial findings suggest that pain-related anxiety may play an important role in relations between the experience of pain and hazardous patterns of alcohol consumption among individuals with probable PTSD. Future research is needed to determine the temporal nature of these associations and to examine the potential utility of treatments that address pain-related anxiety in the context of comorbid pain, PTSD, and hazardous drinking.

Keywords:

• PTSD
• alcohol
• pain
• substance use
• trauma
• pain-related anxiety

Acknowledgements

Findings from this paper were presented in a poster at the ninth annual Neuroscience Research Day at Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY on April 7, 2023.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to the University of Houston under Award Number U54MD015946. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.