Psychological medicine, pain, and musculoskeletal disorders

There is a two-way relationship between pain and psychological illness. Pain may be produced by psychological states and may cause psychological disturbances. For these reasons, pain and psychiatric problems are often associated. Selection is also highly important in influencing the population of all hospital clinics dealing with chronic nonfatal illness. Patients from this group show increased emotional difficulty, which in the past has been misunderstood as evidence of a psychological etiology.