The experience of coping with chronic pain : a phenomenological investigation

The goal of this investigation was to describe the thematic structure of how people experience and cope with chronic pain. To accomplish this task, phenomenological interviews were conducted with twelve different participants who had chronic pain for at least six months duration.Participants responded to a research question which asked them to describe how they coped with chronic pain.All interviews were audio taped and then transcribed.Following this, individual protocols were interpreted within the context of a phenomenological research group. In this group, an attempt is made to describe the thematic structure of the experience of coping with chronic pain as articulated by participants. On the basis of these procedures, a two part thematic structure emerged: one describing the experience of chronic pain and the second describing how participants coped with the pain. Four themes described the experience of chronic pain itself: (1) Invisibility toothers, (2) Limitations, (3) Out of control, and(4) Separation. Five themes emerged to describe the ways in which participants reported coping with each of these various themes Characterizing the experience of chronic pain: (1) Hiding/Revealing, (2) Accepting/Denying,VI(3) Enduring/Managing, (4) Connecting/Withdrawing, and(5) Monitoring/Evaluating/Deciding. Taken together, these themes formed the structure of coping with chronic pain for participants in this study.Each of these themes was inextricably connected with one another despite the fact that all emerged as figure within the context of a changed way of life for participants. The themes of coping were derived from the themes of the experience of pain and represented a method by which participants sought to modulate the experience of chronic pain. In describing one theme, it was necessary to include aspects of the other themes.The findings of the current study are related to the existing literature in the field of counseling psychology and to that of medicine. Suggestions for researchers,therapists, and health care providers are offered;implications for the treatment of chronic pain also were discussed. These suggestions and implications are derived from the current investigation, which emphasizes the interrelatedness of all aspects of the experience of coping with chronic pain.