55
hypochondria, and hysteria) of the MMPI and the affective dimension of

the McGill Pain Questionnaire.

 Diller (1980) wrote that because of the variety of specific pain

terms, some type of cognitive sorting must take place when describing

the experience. The terms we use for pain may function on more than one

level so Diller finds the McGill Pain Questionnaire useful in

distinguishing the levels. "In this way it may become possible to

connect more certainly the tertiary and quaternary accounts of pain and

to associate linguistic descriptions with quantitative clinical

measurements" (p. 10).

 Gaston-Johansson (1984), in a study to determine if the concepts

pain, ache, and hurt differ from each other in intensity, gave the

McGill Pain Questionnaire and a visual analogue scale (VAS) to 41

registered nurses and 12 chronic pain patients. She did a pairwise

comparison of pain versus ache and ache versus hurt using the visual

analogue scale, the number of words chosen scale, and the pain rating

index scale of the McGill Pain Questionnaire. The investigator found

significant differences between the words on all three scales for the

nurses' rating. The patients chose fewer words to rate intensity than

the nurses chose. She recommended using the word hurt on the lower end

of a scale and pain on the higher end, concluding that her findings

confirm a difference in intensity between the words.

 A conclusion from the above studies is that the McGill Pain

Questionnaire is an appropriate instrument for measuring both acute and

chronic pain. Evidence exists that this instrument may also