Psychological Interventions Chronic Pain Medical science is increasingly aligning with a biopsychosocial treatment perspective that understands pain and symptoms as coming from multifaceted experience characterized by the complexity that is inherently human (Roditi & Robinson, 2011). Many vectors come together in this biopsychosocial perspective: the physicological and emotional state of the individual tend to dominate, garnering most of the medical attention these variables align with conventional medical and behavioral training (Roditi & Robinson, 2011). In addition, the influence of culture, ethnicity, and society on the interpretation of health and disease are important considerations (Roditi & Robinson, 2011). The literature on mind-body connection provides strong evidence of the impact that an individual's emotions can have on their behavior and, interestingly, provides findings that the reverse can also be true (Roditi & Robinson, 2011).

Chronic pain is considered to be an illness from a biopsychosocial perspective, and not a disease (Roditi & Robinson, 2011). The subjective experience of chronic pain requires management (Roditi & Robinson, 2011). The treatment interventions are aimed at the relieving the pain through enhanced self-management (Roditi & Robinson, 2011). Important components of the self-management strategy are behavioral change and cognitive change (Roditi & Robinson, 2011). This is particularly true with the cause of the pain cannot be eliminated, directly mediated, or identified (Roditi & Robinson, 2011).

A number of empirically demonstrated...

The efficacy of psychological therapy for dealing with chronic pain can be shown in at least 70 randomized, controlled studies where more than 60% of the subjects showed improvements in at least three out of eight of the relevant domains (Rattue, 2011). These studies indicate that improvements can be expected in many patients with respect to physical activity, coping skills to address the daily experience of pain, and a feeling of emotional well-being (Rattue, 2011). The psychological and behavioral changes can be effective strategies for co-therapy that occurs in conjunction with therapeutic physical exercise and pharmacological treatment (Rattue, 2011).
Improved self-management is a laudable goal of psychological approaches to chronic pain, but additionally such effective approaches can reduce disability caused by pain and reduce the emotional distress that so often accompanies chronic pain (Roditi & Robinson, 2011). Th combination of behavioral, cognitive, and self-regulatory techniques and practices improve the capacity of the patient to cope with pain (Roditi & Robinson, 2011). Psychologists who specialize in these biopsychosocial treatment plans can support patients to be more in control of their pain management and live more normal lives than would otherwise be possible (Roditi & Robinson, 2011). Active management of chronic pain is a transferable skill that can apply to other aspects of a patient's life thereby empowering the patient to be aware of and…