Pain and depression

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. 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 doubtless prove to be essential reading for researchers investigating chronic nonmalignant pain as well as physicians dealing with patients suffering from chronic pain.