• Emelien Lauwerier, Stefaan Van Damme, Liesbet Goubert, Koen Paemeleire, Jacques Devulder, and Geert Crombez.
• Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. Emelien.Lauwerier@Ugent.be
• Acta Neurol Belg. 2012 Mar 1;112(1):3-7.

AbstractPain relief is often the primordial treatment objective in pain patients. However, an exclusive focus upon pain relief may have costs. Evidence is accumulating that persistent attempts to gain control over pain may, paradoxically, hinder successful adaptation to pain and increase frustration and limitations due to pain. To better understand these apparently paradoxical findings, we propose to adopt a motivational perspective on coping with pain. Within this perspective, pain control is recast as an attempt to protect and restore valued life goals threatened by pain. This framework explains why some patients engage excessively in pain control strategies despite the costs associated with this, such as overuse of medication. A clinical implication is that cautiousness is warranted in promoting strategies exclusively aimed at pain relief. Beyond standard medical care, interventions should also be aimed at the improvement of functioning despite pain. Certainly those patients for whom there is no definite or sound cure to pain and who increasingly experience emotional and physical problems due to pain might benefit from paramedical help by psychologists and/or physiotherapists.

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