Der Schmerz
-
Establishing a trustful therapeutic relationship and reflecting on attitudes and behavior is essential in caring for patients with functional pain syndromes. Hope-disappointment circles are common and can be intensified by unfavorable caregiver behavior. A biopsychosocial, empathetic and coping-oriented attitude has proved to be useful. A motivating communication is recommended that carefully explores the pain and its interactions with psychosocial factors following the three typical phases of accepting complaints, establishing biopsychosocial understanding and developing coping strategies.
-
Data on administrative prevalence, types of treatment and disease costs of patients diagnosed with somatoform pain disorder (according to ICD 10) in Germany were not previously available. ⋯ Insurants diagnosed with somatoform pain disorder were probably overtreated with radiology and invasive procedures and with opioids.
-
Pain sensitivity is a risk factor for postoperative pain and is usually determined by experimental pain stimulation. Ruscheweyh et al. (Pain 146:65-74, 2009) developed the pain sensitivity questionnaire (PSQ) which assesses general pain sensitivity by self-rating without using extensive and painful experimental stimulation. The objective of this study was to examine whether subjective pain sensitivity affects postoperative pain intensity and can be considered as a risk factor for postoperative pain. ⋯ Subjective pain sensitivity can easily be measured by the PSQ and is a risk factor for postoperative pain intensity.