The family's viewpoint of chronic pain

An indentical questionnaire are administered separately to 100 chronic pain patients and a close family member of each. The majority of patients and relatives agreed on the answers to these questions about the pain problem. Highest congruency between patient and relative was associated with cases in which there were management problems and an ultimately poor treatment result. Rather than reflecting excellent communication between patient and relative, this appears to indicate an undesirable mutuality. Patient answers indicate to us as examiners that their pain is greater than they have revealed to relatives, yet the relatives say the patient is showing more than he realizes.