The association between emotion regulation and pain during the immediate postpartum period

Purpose The present study aims to investigate the association between emotion regulation difficulties and pain perception during the immediate postpartum period. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed in women during the immediate postpartum period. Women completed the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) questionnaire to measure difficulties in emotion regulation. A second analysis was conducted for the six subdomains of the DERS questionnaire. The visual analog scale (VAS) was used to measure pain intensity. The association between DERS scores and VAS score was assessed. Multivariable logistic regression models were constructed to control for potential confounders. Results A total of 150 women were included in the final analysis, of whom 112 (74.6%) delivered vaginally and 38 (25.4%) had a cesarean delivery. Higher DERS scores, indicating more difficulties in emotion regulation, were significantly associated with higher VAS scores regardless of mode of delivery. Likewise, higher emotion regulation scores in 5 of 6 subdomains were associated with higher VAS scores ( p < 0.001). Using multivariate logistic regression models higher DERS scores were independently associated with higher VAS scores. Conclusion Difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with higher pain perception during the immediate postpartum period. Interventions designed to improve emotion regulation may improve maternal well-being in the immediate postpartum period and possibly reduce use of pain medication.