Pain and Depression: An Antidisciplinary Patient-Centered Approach (Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine)

Annotation. Pain is the most common physical complaint while depression is the second most debilitating chronic medical condition. The co-occurrence of pain and depression is well known but a detailed understanding of their phenomenology, interrelationship, and effective therapies remains speculative. This book provides a synthetic approach to the evaluation and treatment of patients with chronic pain and depression that will generate therapeutic optimism and lead clinicians to improve quality of life and restore function. (Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine) The recognition that depression is not just an affective disorder or demoralization is discussed in detail in the contributions: "Function, Disability, and Psychological Well-Being" and in "Structural Models of Comorbidity among Common Mental Disorders: Connections to Chronic Pain". Other articles review the complex regional pain syndrome and the Gulf War syndrome. Further papers discuss issues relating to the use of opioids in the treatment of chronic pain. This book will doubtlessly prove to be essential reading for researchers investigating chronic nonmalignant pain as well as physicians dealing with patients suffering from chronic pain Those in chronic pain suffer more than physical discomfort. Many suffer the humiliation of defending themselves from practitioners' charges that they are liars, stupid, mentally ill, or addicted. Many of them are unsuccessful in getting real care and suffer needlessly for extended periods of time; some never receive appropriate pain treatment, even unto death. Given this situation, it is not surprising depression is also often a factor amongst those in pain, and it is often not recognized nor treated. In this collection of ten articles, contributors examine some recent research in the affinity of pain and depression, including such topics as psychological behaviorism and the placebo, disability and well-being, co-morbidity in pain and mental disorders, the neurobiology of pain, complex regional pain syndrome, syndromes related to war, opioid-related treatment, and ethical issues in treating patients with both chronic pain and substance abuse disorders. Each essay contains its own references. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR