Behavioral treatment of chronic pain: variables affecting treatment efficacy

Behavioral approaches to pain management have been shown to be efficacious in many instances but many of the variables indicating or contraindicating such treatment remain unspecified. The data reported here demonstrated that while patients referred by both Disability and Medical Subspecialties showed improvement in pain report, affect, and feelings of control, those patients referred by Disability improved reliable less, remain hospitalized longer and were reliably less compliant. These data can be understood within an operant conditioning conceptualization of illness behavior.