THE “SAFETY SEEKING BEHAVIOURS” CONSTRUCT AND ITS APPLICATION TO CHRONIC PAIN

Abstract

Paralleling developments in other areas of clinical psychology, psychological theories of chronic pain have evolved from the purely behavioural models of several decades ago, to those that have increasingly recognized the importance of cognitive constructs (without necessarily neglecting the influence of behavioural factors that remains significant). As is well established in the domains of anxiety and depression, pain related cognitions and coping strategies are now considered to be just as, if not more, important as behavioural constructs such as reinforcement contingencies. At the same time, however, some of the exciting developments in other clinical areas have only just begun to receive due attention from those interested in pain. In particular, the “safety seeking behaviours” construct, which has received a considerable amount of attention in recent years from anxiety researchers, appears to have been virtually ignored by those researching pain. Although related constructs such as “fear avoidance” have increasingly been recognized and investigated, specific reference to safety behaviours (in relation to pain) does not seem to have occurred. This paper presents a brief overview of how the concept of safety seeking behaviours could be applied to chronic pain patients. Although not advancing a radically new approach, it is argued that there are theoretical and clinical advantages to integrating safety seeking behaviours in to psychological models of pain.