Encyclopedia of Health and Medicine

psychogenic pain 383
medications, tricyclic ANTIDEPRESSANT MEDICATIONS,
and antispasmodic medications.
See also ACUTE PAIN; CHRONIC PAIN; EUDYNIA; MAL-
DYNIA; NEURON; NOCICEPTOR.
psychogenic pain A PAIN disorder in which the
pain the person experiences has no apparent
organic or physical basis. Psychogenic pain often
has accompanying psychologic components such
as anxiety or DEPRESSION. Recurring HEADACHE, BACK
PAIN, generalized MUSCLE pain, and STOMACH pain
are common presentations of psychogenic pain.
In psychogenic pain, the experience of pain is
as real as if there were a clear physical cause.
However, over time the nature of the pain deviates
from the characteristics the doctor would
expect to observe with pain of organic cause. The
intensity of the pain may vary with external circumstances,
for example, rather than as a result of
physiologic changes that would reasonably bring
about increase or decrease in pain intensity.
Psychogenic pain may be acute (come on suddenly)
or chronic (persist over an extended time).
Most people benefit from a combination of treatment
that incorporates PSYCHOTHERAPY, nonmedication
methods for pain relief, and mild ANALGESIC
MEDICATIONS or other medications appropriate for
the person’s symptoms. Recovery depends on the
ability of the person and his or her health-care
team to get to the bottom of the issues presenting
themselves as pain, to appropriately address and
resolve them.
See also ACUTE PAIN; ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF PAIN
RELIEF; BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION THERAPY; CHRONIC PAIN;
GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER (GAD); HYPOCHONDRIA-
SIS; MALDYNIA; SOMATIZATION DISORDER.