L’objectif de cet article est de proposer une synthèse des données de la littérature scientifique relatives à la gestion des émotions et à ses déficits, chez les personnes atteintes de douleur chronique. Nous avons utilisé un moteur de recherche en ligne (EBSCOhost research databases) permettant de collecter les données bibliographiques issues de cinq bases de données différentes. Quatre cent quarante-neuf articles, issus de revues internationales et publiés de 1994 (car c’est au milieu des années 1990 que ce thème commence à être traité) à fin janvier 2015, ont été identifiés à l’aide de mots clés en rapport avec les émotions et la douleur chronique. Quarante-six d’entre eux ont été sélectionnés sur la base de leur titre, de leur résumé et/ou du texte intégral et de leur correspondance avec la thématique concernée et les critères d’inclusion. Les résultats montrent que la gestion émotionnelle exerce une influence sur la douleur, le handicap, les symptômes psychopathologiques et la qualité de vie.

The goal of this review is to synthesize the data of scientific literature on emotional management and its deficits in chronic pain. We used terms referenced in databases and MesH terms (of the United States National Library of Medicine) to perform a literature search in a powerful online search engine (EBSCOhost research databases). Four hundred and forty-nine papers, taken from international reviews and published of 1994 (because it is in the middle of the 1990s that this theme begins to be handle) to the end of January, 2015, are identified by a total 5 electronic databases with predefined keywords about emotions and chronic pain. Forty-six of which met the inclusion criteria, according to their title, their summary and their complete text. The findings suggest that some emotional management strategies and its deficits can maintain a vicious circle of negative emotional states with physiological and psychopathological consequences. Several studies show that alexithymia, emotional ambivalence and emotional suppression have a deleterious impact on pain, emotional distress (depression, anxiety) and disability. In spite of some contradictions concerning the nature of this effect (sensory or affective pain intensity or even duration of pain), it seems that alexithymia is a major variable implied in chronic pain. Inversely, experiential acceptance has a beneficial effect on psychological distress (depression, anxiety and stress). Emotional disclosure (of stressful or traumatic events) can decrease pain intensity but not disability and mental health. Likewise, emotional expression in daily life seems beneficial, but when the expression of the positive and negative feelings are distinguished, emotional expression of negative feelings increases pain, disability and distress. The whole of these findings emphasize the need to further research about emotional management in chronic non-cancer pain. It is necessary to identify and control the source of potential bias. Some hypotheses have been proposed to explain these findings. In the future, it would be interesting to use a multifactorial approach to investigate the interactions between various processes of emotional management in chronic pain patients.