Opening the black box of psychological treatments for chronic pain: A clinical perspective for medical providers.

This will allow providers to more effectively calibrate pain education and create a collaborative treatment plan the patient will be more likely to undertake.[127] Lastly, it is also important to manage expectations regarding the persistent nature of chronic pain and the treatment options available. Small effects on pain intensity were also observed following treatment.[75] Mindfulness treatments are delivered across a wide range of chronic pain conditions and in varying formats including in person, telephone, and web-based self-management. Adults with chronic pain experience worse physical, psychological, and social functioning compared to the general population,[1] and half a trillion dollars are spent annually in the United States on direct health care costs and lost worker productivity.[2] In 2010, the Institute of Medicine released the National Pain Strategy, which highlighted the need to adequately train providers in the assessment and treatment of psychological and social factors contributing to chronic pain and acknowledged how little support medical providers were given to manage complex pain cases that may involve mental health comorbidities and risk of addiction.[3] In response, pain care settings have increasingly utilized interprofessional teams that include mental health providers to better address patient needs. [Extracted from the article]