[Psychological research on pain in Western Europe]

Utilizing MEDLINE and PSYCLIT, a search for articles covering psychological research on pain in the Western European countries was undertaken for the period from 1 January 1990 to 31 December 1994. A total of 398 publications were identified, of which 44 were classified as experimental research in the laboratory, 33 as psychodiagnostic and 225 as clinical studies. The most frequent diagnosis was back pain, followed by musculoskeletal pain and headache. With regard to the total number of publications, Germany was first, followed by The Netherlands and Great Britain. In an analysis of the subcategories, the leading position of Germany could only be confirmed with respect to laboratory studies; in psychodiagnostic publications, Germany fell back behind Great Britain and The Netherlands. In clinical studies, Germany was second to Sweden. Relating the number of publications to the number of personnel estimated to be engaged in research, The Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries demonstrate very high efficiency. Compared with Germany, these countries facilitate the integration of psychological procedures into an interdisciplinary management of pain.