[Psychosomatische behandlung chronischer schmerzpatientinnen.]

At present, pain is conceptualized as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience, including biological and psychosocial components. Thus, the classical distinction of somatogenic and psychogenic pain is heuristically no longer useful. For the understanding of the development and chronification of pain, the identification of predisposing, precipitating and perpetuating factors are of value. Biological, psychological and sociocultural aspects should be considerd for the diagnostic procedure and the treatment of pain patients. As this, a multidisciplinary pain management can be conceptualized as a stepwise approach of increasing treatment complexity, including different health professions (physician, psychologist/psychotherapist, nurses, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, social worker) and various settings (consultation-liaison(C/L)-services, outpatient pain clinics, day hospitals, inpatient wards). The efficacy of an multidisciplinary pain treatment has been clearly demonstrated by numerous studies during the last years.