Catastrophising or catastrophic thinking refers to "an exaggerated negative 'mental set' brought to bear during actual or anticipated pain experience" (25). The PCS is a 13 item self-report inventory that measures catastrophic thinking in relation to pain (26). Respondents are asked to reflect on past painful experiences and to indicate the degree to which they experience each of 13 thoughts or feelings when experiencing pain. Each item is rated on a 5-point rating scale with the end points 0 = not at all and 4 = all the time. The PCS yields a total score and three subscale scores assessing rumination (i.e., excessive focus on pain sensations), magnification (i.e., exaggerating the threat value of pain sensations) and helplessness (i.e., perceiving oneself as unable to cope with pain symptoms). The PCS has been shown to have high internal consistency {coefficient alphas: total PCS = .87, rumination = .87, magnification = .66, and helplessness = .78 (26). The PCS has been shown to predict pain intensity in patients with acute postoperative pain (27) and pain related disability in chronic neuropathic pain patients even after controlling for pain severity (28).