Current approaches in chronic pain.

Croft et al 1 found a prevalence of chronic widespread pain in 11.2% of the population. About one in six of these individuals has significant psychological problems, but rates of psychiatric morbidity are even higher in patients attending rheumatology outpatient clinics and pain clinics in general hospitals (Fig 1). These findings suggest that psychological assessment of patients with chronic pain is an important task. This article will attempt to describe current methods of assessing and managing these patients.