1 Before you use it
What it is
Thirteen items across three subscales — rumination, magnification and helplessness — measuring the tendency to catastrophise about pain.
When to reach for it
Persistent pain presentations, particularly where the ÖMPSQ-SF has flagged risk and you want to know what is driving it.
2 Giving it
Scoring
Thirteen items, 0–4 each, totalling 0–52. Report the three subscales as well as the total — they suggest different conversations.
What it doesn’t measure
Diagnose depression or anxiety, and it is not a mental-health assessment. Refer appropriately where distress rather than catastrophising is the finding.
3 Reading the score
Interpreting it
**A total around 30 is commonly cited as clinically relevant.
Rumination-dominant, magnification-dominant and helplessness-dominant profiles are managed differently, which is the argument for reading the subscales.
Is the change real?
Student trap. Using the word 'catastrophising' with the patient. It sounds like a judgement — describe the thoughts, not the label.
Official source: sullivan-painresearch.mcgill.ca. We don't host the form.
This is a learning tool. It does not diagnose patients and does not replace your clinical educator.
Did this page do its job?
CliniStudy is in beta. One tap is enough — it decides what gets fixed first.