Abstract
Pain is a complex emotional and sensory experience that is influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors. The longer pain persists, the more important the psychosocial factors become in the maintenance and aggravation of pain. This chapter describes the rationale for a biopsychosocial approach to pain, including the historical context of the biopsychosocial approach to pain and the state of the current neuroscience research involving psychological factors and pain. Furthermore, relevant psychological constructs when evaluating individuals with chronic pain are explored. Finally, a brief discussion of psychological approaches for pain and interventions based on these approaches is provided.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Institute of Medicine: Committee on Advancing Pain Research C, and Education. Relieving pain in America: a blueprint for transforming prevention, care, education, and research. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Collection; 2011.
Prevalence of chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain among adults—United States, 2016 [Internet]. 2016.
Gaskin DJ, Richard P. The economic costs of pain in the United States. J Pain. 2012;13(8):715–24.
Turk DC, Gatchel RJ. Psychological approaches to pain management: a practioner’s handbook. 2nd ed. New York: The Guilford Press; 2002.
Bushnell MC, Ceko M, Low LA. Cognitive and emotional control of pain and its disruption in chronic pain. Natl Rev. 2013;14:502–11.
Gatchel RJ, Peng YB, Peters ML, Fuchs PN, Turk DC. The biopsychosocial approach to chronic pain: scientific advances and future directions. Psychol Bull. 2007;133(4):581.
Baum A, Gatchel RJ, Krantz DS. An introduction to health psychology. Boston: McGraw Hill; 1997.
Drossman DA. Functional versus organic: an inappropriate dichotomy for clinical care. Am J Gastroenterol. 2006;101(6):1172–5.
Breuer J, Freud S. Studies in Hysteria. New York: Nervous and Mental Disease Publishing; 1937.
Beecher HK. Pain in men wounded in battle. Ann Surg. 1946;123:96–105.
Bingel U. The effect of treatment expectation on drug efficacy: imaging the analgesic benefit of the opioid remifentanil. Sci Transl Med. 2011;3:7–14.
Engel GL. The need for a new medical model: a challenge for biomedicine. Science. 1977;196(4286):129–36.
Butler D, Moseley L. Explain pain. Adelaide City West, Australia: Noigroup Publications; 2003.
Melzack R, Wall PD. Pain mechanisms: a new theory. Science. 1965;150(3699):971–9.
Gatchel RJ, Robinson RC, Peng YB, Benitez OJ. Pain and the brain: a synthesis of the current understanding of brain response to pain learned from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Pract Pain Manag 2011;8(5). https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/resources/pain-brain
Villemure C, Bushnell MC. Mood influences supraspinal pain processing separately from attention. J Neurosci. 2009;29(3):705–15.
Siegel DJ. The developing mind: how relationships and the brain interact to shape who we are. 2nd ed. New York: Guilford Press; 2012.
de Charms RC, Maeda F, Glover GH, Ludlow D, Pauly JM, Soneji D, et al. Control over brain activation and pain learned by using real-time functional MRI. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2005;102(51):1826–31.
Moriarty O, McGuire BE, Finn DP. The effect of pain on cognitive function: a review of clinical and preclinical research. Prog Neurobiol. 2011;93(3):385–404.
Tamburin S, Maier A, Schiff S, Lauriola MF, Di Rosa E, Zanette G, et al. Cognition and emotional decision-making in chronic low back pain: an ERPs study during Iowa gambling task. Front Psychol. 2014;5:1350.
Whitlock EL, Diaz-Ramirez LG, Glymour MM, Boscardin WJ, Covinsky KE, Smith AK. Association between persistent pain and memory decline and dementia in a longitudinal cohort of elders. JAMA Intern Med. 2017;177(8):1146–53.
Polatin PB, Kinney RK, Gatchel RJ, Lillo E, Mayer TG. Psychiatric illness and chronic low back pain: the mind and the spine-which goes first? Spine. 1993;18(1):66–71.
Fishbain DA, Cutler RB, Rosomoff HL, et al. Chronic-pain associated depressions: antecedent or consequence of chronic pain? Clin J Pain. 1997;13(3):116–37.
McWilliams LA, Cox BJ, Enns MW. Mood and anxiety disorders associated with chronic pain: an examination in a nationally representative sample. Pain. 2003;106:127–33.
Robinson RC. Psychometric testing: the early years and the MMPI. In: Gatchel RJ, Weisberg J, editors. Personality characteristics of patients with pain. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association; 2000.
Gatchel RJ, McGeary DD, McGeary CA, Lippe B. Interdisciplinary chronic pain management: past, present, and future. Am Psychol. 2014;69(2):119–30.
Fields HL. The doctor’s dilemma: opiate analgesics and chronic pain. Neuron. 2011;69(4):591–4.
Von Korff M, Kolodny A, Deyo RA, Chou R. Long-term opiod therapy reconsidered. Ann Intern Med. 2011;155:325–8.
Lee M, Silverman SM, Hansen H, Patel VB, Manchikanti L. A comprehensive review of opioid-induced hyperalgesia. Pain Physician. 2011;14(2):145–61.
Chou R, Turner JA, Devine EB, Hansen RN, Sullivan SD, Blazina I, et al. The effectiveness and risks of long-term opioid therapy for chronic pain: a systematic review for a national institutes of health pathways to prevention workshop. Ann Intern Med. 2015;162(4):276–86.
Robinson RC, Gatchel RJ, Polatin PB, Deschner M, Gajraj N, Noe C. Screening for problematic opioid behavior. Clin J Pain. 2001;17:220–8.
Weir K. New solutions for the opioid crisis: how psychologists improve care. Monit Psychol. 2019;50(6):32–9.
Gatchel RJ, Theodore BR. Evidence-based outcomes in pain research and clinical practice. Pain Pract. 2008;8(6):452–60.
Chou R. 2009 clinical guidelines from the American pain society and the American Academy of pain medicine on the use of chronic opioid therapy in chronic noncancer pain: what are the key messages for clinical practice? Pol Arch Med Wewn. 2009;119(7–8):469–77.
Jensen MC, Brant-Zawadzki MN, Obuchowski N, Modic MT, Malkasian D, Ross JS. Magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine in people without back pain. N Engl J Med. 1994;331(2):69–73.
Fordyce WE. Behavioral methods for chronic pain and illness. St. Louis: C. V. Mosby Co.; 1976.
Gatchel RJ, Robinson RC, Block AR, Benedtto NN. Assessment of pain in primary care settings. In: Maruish ME, editor. Handbook of psychological assessment in primary care settings. Washington, D.C.: Taylor & Francis Ltd; 2017.
Vlaeyen JW, Linton SJ. Fear-avoidance model of chronic musculoskeletal pain: 12 years on. Pain. 2012;153(6):1144–7.
Mior S. Exercise in the treatment of chronic pain. Clin J Pain. 2001;17(4 Suppl):S77–85.
Wandner LD, Prasad R, Ramezani A, Malcore SA, Kerns RD. Core competencies for the emerging specialty of pain psychology. Am Psychol. 2019;74(4):432–44.
Taylor SE. Health psychology. 9th ed. New York: Guilford; 2015.
Carver CS, Scheier MF, Fulford D. Self-regulatory processes, stress, and coping. In: John OP, Robins RW, Pervin LA, editors. Handbook of personality theory and research. 3rd ed. New York: Guilford; 2008.
Thinking BAT, Depression. Ii. Theory and therapy. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1964;10:561–71.
Turk DC, Rudy TE. Assessment of cognitive factors in chronic pain: a worthwhile enterprise? J Consult Clin Psychol. 1986;54(6):760–8.
Lefebvre MF. Cognitive distortion and cognitive errors in depressed psychiatric and low back pain patients. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1981;49(4):517–25.
Sullivan MJ, Thorn B, Haythornthwaite JA, Keefe F, Martin M, Bradley LA, et al. Theoretical perspectives on the relation between catastrophizing and pain. Clin J Pain. 2001;17(1):52–64.
Wertli MM, Burgstaller JM, Weiser S, Steurer J, Kofmehl R, Held U. Influence of catastrophizing on treatment outcome in patients with nonspecific low back pain: a systematic review. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2014;39(3):263–73.
Mayer TG, Gatchel RJ, Mayer H, Kishino N, Kelley J, Mooney VA. Prospective two-year study of functional restoration in industrial low back pain. JAMA. 1987;258:1181–2.
Speed TJ, Parekh V, Coe W, Antoine D. Comorbid chronic pain and opioid use disorder: literature review and potential treatment innovations. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2018;30(5):136–46.
McCracken LM, Vowles KE. Acceptance and commitment therapy and mindfulness for chronic pain: model, process, and progress. Am Psychol. 2014;69(2):178–87.
Lumley MA, Schubiner H, Lockhart NA, Kidwell KM, Harte SE, Clauw DJ, et al. Emotional awareness and expression therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and education for fibromyalgia: a cluster-randomized controlled trial. Pain. 2017;158(12):2354–63.
Andrasik F, Flor H, Turk DC. An expanded view of psychological aspects in head pain: the biopsychosocial model. Neurol Sci. 2005;26(Suppl 2):s87–91.
Veehof MM, Trompetter HR, Bohlmeijer ET, Schreurs KM. Acceptance- and mindfulness-based interventions for the treatment of chronic pain: a meta-analytic review. Cogn Behav Ther. 2016;45(1):5–31.
Sollner W, Schussler G. Psychodynamic therapy in chronic pain patients: a systematic review. Z Psychosom Med Psychother. 2001;47(2):115–39.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Robinson, R.C., Chong, J. (2020). Pain and Psychology. In: Noe, C. (eds) Pain Management for Clinicians. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39982-5_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39982-5_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-39981-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-39982-5
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)