The within-day relation between lonely episodes and subsequent clinical pain in individuals with fibromyalgia: Mediating role of pain cognitions

Objective: This daily diary study of individuals with fibromyalgia (FM) examined whether morning increases in loneliness relate to worsened evening bodily pain through afternoon negative pain cognitions.

Methods: 220 participants with FM completed electronic diaries 4 times a day for 21days to assess loneliness, negative pain cognitions, bodily pain, and social enjoyment. Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to examine within-person relations of morning increases in loneliness, afternoon negative pain cognitions, and evening pain, controlling for morning pain.

Results: On mornings when individuals experienced higher than their usual levels of loneliness, they experienced higher levels of afternoon maladaptive pain cognitions, which in turn predicted increases in evening pain above the level of morning pain. Afternoon maladaptive pain cognitions fully mediated the relations between morning loneliness and evening pain.

Conclusions: Lonely episodes are associated with subsequent increases in negative patterns of thinking about pain, which in turn predict subsequent increases in bodily pain within a day. Because pain cognitions mediate the loneliness-pain link, FM interventions may benefit from addressing individuals' vulnerability to maladaptive cognitions following lonely episodes.