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Abstract

Our previous research has revealed that pain perception in chronic pain patients may be influenced by the presence of their significant others. Recently, it has been further shown that affective components of the neural pain network are more activated than sensory components during the experience of another’s pain in healthy controls. In the present study, we investigated whether the presence vs.
absence of a patient’s significant othermay also differentially influence brain activity of the pain network in chronic pain patients. Ten female patients with fibromyalgia (aged 51.2 yrs) and nine female healthy controls (aged 55.3 yrs)were examined using fMRI when somatosensory stimulation was elicited by non-painful vibratory stimuli at the elbow and at the finger. Significantly greater activations were found in the
insula, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and secondary somatosensory cortex (SII) in fibromyalgia patients compared to healthy controls when stimuli were applied at
the elbow (one of the tender points considered by patients with fibromyalgia) in the presence of the patient’s partner; but no group differences in brain activity were
observed when stimuli were applied in the absence of the patient’s partner, or when stimuli were applied at the finger.We concluded that social support froma patient’s
significant other in chronic pain patients may activate both sensory and affective components of the brain network involved in pain processing.