Erin Ferguson has been awarded the Donald D. Price Memorial Publication Award by the UF Center for Pain Research and Behavioral Health for her excellent work!
The goal of this review, published in Annals of Behavioral Medicine, was to propose a testable mechanistic model of pain as an antecedent to substance use that may guide future research and inform clinical practice. The resulting Catastrophizing, Anxiety, Negative Urgency, and Expectancy (CANUE) model highlights several modifiable risk factors for engaging in self-medication of pain via substance use, including high levels of pain catastrophizing, fear of pain, and pain anxiety; exaggerated pain-related negative affect; high levels of negative urgency; and strong substance-related outcome expectancies (e.g., for pain reduction/coping). We contend that addressing these conceptualized moderating factors via targeted behavioral and psychological intervention may help to disrupt the pain-to-substance use pathway and support the establishment of more adaptive pain-coping responses. It is our hope that future research will systematically evaluate the relative contribution and clinical utility of the CANUE model in the context of co-occurring pain and substance use.
Congratulations Erin!
