What's next? The influence of (in)validating communication on pain anticipation

Pain does not occur in a vacuum, but in a social context in which interpersonal interactions and communication may affect an individual's pain experience. People with pain often perceive responses by others as invalidating of their pain experience. We put forward the idea that the impact of invalidating communication may be explained by disconfirmation of expectations that patients hold about pain outcomes, whereas the impact of validating communication may be explained by reinforcement of expectations. This aim of this research project is to systematically examine the impact of disconfirmation and confirmation of pain expectations − by (in)validating and validating communication − on pain and on anticipatory responses to expected pain outcomes.