The social worker's role in a behavioral management approach to chronic pain

The pain treatment program described in this paper teaches chronic pain patients and their families to manage pain in a constructive manner, increasing activity, eliminating pain medications, and reducing use of the health care system. The social worker carries a crucial role in this behavior modification program: working with the patient, family, and rehabilitation team in evaluation for the program, in treatment of the patient and family, and in the transition from hospital to home and the community. Chronic pain is a costly disability, economically and socially. For many patients traditional medical and surgical approaches have failed to bring relief. By attending to and treating the total family system, at least 75% of the patients treated are enabled to lead normally active lives again.