Nature reviews. Rheumatology
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Persistent and disabling pain is the hallmark of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and various other rheumatologic conditions. However, disease severity (as measured by 'objective' indices such as those that employ radiography or serology) is only marginally related to patients' reports of pain severity, and pain-related presentation can differ widely between individuals with ostensibly similar conditions (for example, grade 4 osteoarthritis of the knee). Increasing evidence in support of the biopsychosocial model of pain suggests that cognitive and emotional processes are crucial contributors to inter-individual differences in the perception and impact of pain. ⋯ A variety of pathways, from cognitive to behavioral to neurophysiological, seem to mediate these deleterious effects. Collectively, depression and catastrophizing are critically important variables in understanding the experience of pain in patients with rheumatologic disorders. Pain, depression, and catastrophizing might all be uniquely important therapeutic targets in the multimodal management of a range of such conditions.