Treatment Can Help 'Gain Control' Over Chronic Pain
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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Treatments designed to help people with
chronic pain feel that they have control over their pain are effective, and can lead to better coping strategies and less impairment, according to a new study.

``Pain beliefs are important...because they are related to other variables such as depression, pain levels, use of coping strategies, and general functioning,'' Dr. Amy S. Badura of Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and colleagues explain.

People who believe that they have personal control over their pain fare better than those that attribute their pain levels to fate, luck, or chance, the researchers write in the June issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Putting it another way, those who believe that control over their pain lies within themselves--rather than with some outside force--cope better with their pain, are less impaired, and have better overall functioning.

Badura and colleagues surveyed patients about their beliefs regarding control of their pain before and after a 40 hour, 4-week outpatient pain management program. Of the 73 participants, 44 were female and 29 male. The program was designed to reduce use of narcotic pain medications, and to encourage patients to establish daily exercise routines, learn relaxation and coping skills and participate in
cognitive-behavioral therapy.

This treatment ``simultaneously increased patient perceptions of internal control and decreased perceptions of external control,'' the researchers report. In addition, patients appeared to become more aware of their beliefs during treatment.

``This study supports the efficacy of chronic pain management centers in altering patient beliefs about pain,'' Badura and colleagues conclude. ``The ability to increase patients' self-efficacy in their control over pain and to decrease external attributions are essential to successful pain management.''

SOURCE: Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2000;81:739-740

 


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