Stigmatization and invalidation are common in the context of chronic pain, even in healthcare encounters. The current project goes beyond present research by taking two perspectives on these dynamic processes. On the one hand a contextual perspective, which focuses on different healthcare institutions. On the other hand a temporal perspective, which focuses on pain patients’ healthcare seeking pattern over time. We expect that mismatches in illness models endorsed by individuals with chronic pain (ICPs) and healthcare practitioners (HPs) will be related to perceived stigmatization and invalidation. The main objectives are to examine (1) the nature of stigmatizing and invalidating responses occurring in clinical encounters; (2) the mismatch between illness models of ICPs and HPs and its association with stigma and invalidation; and (3) the impact of stigmatization and invalidation on patients’ quality of life over time, and the mediating role of perceived tress and treatment adherence. The contextual perspective will focus upon stigma in healthcare contexts which endorse different illness models. The temporal perspective will focus upon variations in stigmatization over time and the relation with possible changes in healthcare networks over time. The objectives will be examined using a multi-method approach.