Anxiety before operations increases chances of developing pain afterwards, research finds

We tend to think that how much pain we’re in after a surgery relates to how well our surgeon did with an operation – but new research finds that pain is magnified by patients’ anxiety and depression. The study by French researchers was published in the Journal of Pain.

In their weekly conversation, WHYY’s behavioral health reporter Maiken Scott and psychologist Dan Gottlieb discuss these findings, and their broader implications.