People living with chronic pain who are kinder to themselves may experience somewhat lower pain intensity and fewer anxiety symptoms, and the emotional tone of their everyday experience appears to sit in the middle of that relationship. The work, published in Frontiers in Pain Research, examined how self-kindness—one component of the broader construct of self-compassion—relates over time to pain intensity and anxiety through positive and negative affect, the two basic dimensions of emotional experience.
The study was grounded in the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, which the authors used as the basis for assuming that self-kindness can be indirectly related to pain intensity and anxiety via positive and negative affect. The authors assumed that self-kindness can be indirectly related to pain intensity and anxiety via positive and negative affect, since the role of emotional well-being in the previously observed relationships had remained unexplained. Earlier research had suggested that self-compassion may be an effective way of managing pain and protecting against mental health disorders in patients with chronic pain, but the role of emotional well-being in those relationships had remained unexplained.
The results showed a consistent pattern linking self-kindness to the two affect dimensions. Self-kindness positively predicted positive affect and negatively predicted negative affect. In other words, greater self-kindness predicted more positive affect and less negative affect between the two research waves. This dual pattern—higher positive affect and lower negative affect—matches the study's assumption, based on the broaden-and-build theory, that self-kindness relates to the outcomes through both affect dimensions.
The pathways from affect to the two outcomes were strikingly asymmetric. Positive affect was not a statistically significant predictor of anxiety, but it did statistically significantly predict pain intensity. Negative affect, by contrast, was a positive predictor of anxiety but not of pain intensity. The separation is notable: the emotional route to pain ran through positive affect, while the emotional route to anxiety ran through negative affect. The two affect dimensions thus showed different patterns: positive affect predicted pain intensity but not anxiety, while negative affect predicted anxiety but not pain intensity.
When the researchers examined the full indirect pathways, two relationships emerged. The indirect negative relationship between self-kindness and pain intensity, operating through positive affect, was found to be the same in magnitude as the negative relationship between self-kindness and anxiety operating through negative affect. In practical terms, higher self-kindness was associated with more positive affect, which in turn was associated with lower pain intensity; and higher self-kindness was associated with less negative affect, which in turn was associated with lower anxiety. The indirect effect through positive affect on pain intensity was found to be the same as the indirect effect through negative affect on anxiety.
The authors concluded that enhancing self-kindness as a strength of character—through increased positive affect and decreased negative affect—may be related to pain intensity and anxiety symptoms in patients with chronic pain. They discussed the need for using self-kindness techniques both in daily life and as part of strategic interventions for this patient group. Because the study measured predictive relationships rather than manipulating self-kindness, the findings do not demonstrate that teaching self-kindness techniques would reduce pain or anxiety.
Several further limitations frame the interpretation. The sample comprised 58 participants with chronic pain for at least three months despite pharmacological treatment, a modest size, and the cohort was drawn from Polish patients, so results may not transfer to other populations or treatment contexts. The four-month gap between the two research waves supports temporal ordering, but the study remains prospective and observational.
Even with those caveats, the study addresses the previously unexplained role of emotional well-being in the relationship between self-kindness and pain and anxiety outcomes in chronic pain. If the pattern holds, self-kindness techniques might relate to pain and anxiety through separate emotional channels: positive affect for pain intensity and negative affect for anxiety.
For now, the authors' conclusion is measured: enhancing self-kindness as a strength of character, through increased positive affect and decreased negative affect, may be related to pain intensity and anxiety symptoms in patients with chronic pain. The study discussed the need for using self-kindness techniques, both in daily life and as part of a strategic intervention for a group of patients with chronic pain.
Subject of Research: A prospective Polish study of 58 chronic pain patients testing whether self-kindness relates to pain intensity and anxiety indirectly through positive and negative affect.
Article Title: The indirect relationship of self-kindness and anxiety and pain intensity through the affectivity: prospective study in Polish patients with chronic pain
Article References: Wnuk, M., & Goldsztajn, N. (2026). The indirect relationship of self-kindness and anxiety and pain intensity through the affectivity: prospective study in Polish patients with chronic pain. Frontiers in Pain Research, 7, Article 1864709. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpain.2026.1864709
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.3389/fpain.2026.1864709
Keywords: chronic pain, self-kindness, self-compassion, anxiety, positive affect, negative affect, pain intensity, prospective study, broaden-and-build theory, Poland, emotional well-being, Frontiers in Pain Research
News Source: Glenn Wilkins. (November 5, 2026). Self-Kindness May Shape Pain Intensity and Anxiety in Chronic Pain Patients, Polish Prospective Study Suggests. Scienmag.
