Psychiatric Aspects of Chronic Intractable Pain

Two hundred patients with chronic intractable pain have been evaluated in order to study the clinical characteristics of pain and associated psychiatric illnesses. The commonest site of pain was reported to be head and face, usually dull in nature. Almost 75% of patients reported continuous pain. A great majority (40%-80%) had some psycho-social problem or other problem resultant from the chronic pain. 72% patients had identifiable psychiatric illness, commonest being neurotic depression and anxiety states. The common symptoms reported on the Present State Examination (PSE) were worrying (77%), depression (40%), hypochondrical pre-occupation (35%), autonomic anxiety (42%) and irritability (40%). There is no specific clinical characteristic associated with any particular psychiatric diagnosis. The relevance of psychiatric symptoms and illness associated with chronic pain has been discussed.