Chronic pain syndromes and their treatment by psychological interventions

Treatment of chronic pain has become a multidisciplinary endeavour including psychological interventions. Databases for life science journals were searched for citations from 2007 and 2008 to determine the current focus of research and the state of evidence.

Several reviews on systematic research studies confirm that psychological interventions are efficacious in the treatment of chronic musculoskeletal pain, especially back pain, though effect sizes are small and, in some cases, moderate. Findings from clinical practices and treatment centres corroborate these conclusions. The integration of psychological treatment into primary care has not yet proven its utility. Cost-effective interventions to reduce relapse are currently being examined. Psychological headache treatment has again become a topic of research. Evidence is inconsistent, with improvement ranging from an extraordinary size to none at all. Hypnotherapy in children and adolescents with recurrent gastrointestinal pain, examined in a study of high methodological quality, achieved an exceptional level of symptom relief. The aim of two studies on therapy for fibromyalgia and temporomandibular disorder was the identification of mediators and moderators of treatment outcome.

Regarding different pain syndromes such as chronic back pain, headache, fibromyalgia, and temporomandibular disorder, as well as gastrointestinal pain in children, psychological interventions proved their significance for the achievement of favourable treatment outcome.