Psychologic Interventions for Chronic Pain

In recent decades it has becoming increasingly evident that restrictive bio-medical models are not sufficient to explain the development and mainte-nance of chronic pain problems [1]. For many persons with chronic pain, a single pathophysiologic mechanism that underlies all of their pain and suf-fering cannot be identified, and medical/pharmacologic treatments rarely, if ever, provide adequate pain control [2]. To address the limitations of bio-medical models of chronic pain, more comprehensive biopsychosocial con-ceptualizations were developed to take into account a variety of factors (eg, physical, social, cognitive, affective, behavioral, and sociocultural) that can contribute to chronic pain problems [3]. Since the development of these models, research on the psychologic factors associated with chronic pain has flourished, and several psychologically based treatments for pain man-agement have been developed [4]. Most of these treatments have sound em-pirical support [5] and are routinely integrated into multidisciplinary chronic pain treatment programs [6]. This article provides an overview of four of th