Investigation of the response of the spouse to chronic pain behavior.

A study was conducted to assess the responses of spouses to chronic pain behavior. In this study, spouses watched videotapes of "painful" and "neutral" facial expressions emitted both by their mates, hospitalized chronic pain patients, and by a number of performers. Skin conductance and heart rate to each of these displays were monitored and spouses also rated the perceived pain intensity of each display. Spouses showed greater increases in skin conductance to painful than to neutral facial displays, whether emitted by performers or by patients. Additionally, spouses reporting relatively high levels of marital satisfaction showed greater increases in skin conductance to the painful displays of their mates than did relatively unsatisfied spouses, while both groups gave similar ratings to these same displays. Implications of these data for the development of psychiatric and psychosomatic difficulties in responses of chronically ill patients are discussed.