PCS

The Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) is a short questionnaire that helps us understand the thoughts and feelings people may have when they are in pain.

Sometimes, pain can feel more worrying or overwhelming because of the way our mind responds to it. This is called catastrophizing. It can include feeling helpless, worrying that the pain will get worse, or finding it hard to stop thinking about the pain.

The PCS has 13 questions about common thoughts and feelings people may experience when they are in pain. Your answers help your doctor better understand how pain is affecting you and how best to support your treatment and coping strategies.

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Everyone experiences painful situations at some point in their lives. Such experiences may include headaches, tooth pain, joint or muscle pain. People are often exposed to situations that may cause pain such as illness, injury, dental procedures or surgery.

We are interested in the types of thoughts and feeling that you have when you are in pain. Listed below are thirteen statements describing different thoughts and feelings that may be associated with pain.

Using the scale, please indicate the degree to which you have these thoughts and feelings when you are experiencing pain.

ScoreLow (0 to 9), moderate (10 to 19), high (20 to 39) or very high (40 to 52) levels of catastrophising. Scores >20 suggest an elevated risk for poor pain recovery and warrant further clinical attention.