[Psychotherapy procedures in chronic pain]

Psychotherapeutic possibilities of treating chronic pain are employed in two different ways: Firstly in the form of psychotherapy in patients whose strategies for coping with pain and/or pain genesis can be described in terms of psychopathological categories; secondly in the form of pain-coping training, which is generally indicated in the presence of chronic pain, in particular that which is traditionally termed organic. With respect to their effectiveness in achieving, in the first place, mood change, and in the assessment of symptoms, the individual procedures have been well tested. The question as to differential indication, which can most readily be applied to the use of biofeedback, remains largely unanswered.