Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jul;15(3):284-291.
doi: 10.1176/appi.focus.20170014. Epub 2017 Jul 12.

The Role of Integrated Care in Managing Chronic Pain

William B Leasure  1 , Emily L Leasure  1
Affiliations

The Role of Integrated Care in Managing Chronic Pain

William B Leasure et al. Focus (Am Psychiatr Publ). 2017 Jul.

Abstract

Chronic pain affects up to 20% of the population and costs as much as $635 billion per year in the United States alone. The management of chronic pain is fragmented among medical providers of varying specialties, and evidence-based treatments are often not readily available. Psychiatric comorbidity, which compounds chronic pain treatment, is common. Further complicating the problem are the challenges created by opioid medications, the use of which has increased dramatically in recent decades. Integrated-care psychiatrists are uniquely situated to help navigate this complex landscape and help primary care providers and patients access effective treatments. This article summarizes a number of evidence-based treatments for chronic pain and suggests ways in which an integrated-care psychiatrist may incorporate them into practice.

Keywords: Drug/Substance Abuse; Pain; Primary care; Psychiatry/general.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

References

    1. Kroenke K: Patients presenting with somatic complaints: epidemiology, psychiatric comorbidity and management. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res 2003; 12:34–43 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Breivik H, Collett B, Ventafridda V, et al. : Survey of chronic pain in Europe: prevalence, impact on daily life, and treatment. Eur J Pain 2006; 10:287–333 - PubMed
    1. Von Korff M, Wagner EH, Dworkin SF, et al. : Chronic pain and use of ambulatory health care. Psychosom Med 1991; 53:61–79 - PubMed
    1. Compton WM, Jones CM, Baldwin GT: Relationship between nonmedical prescription-opioid use and heroin use. N Engl J Med 2016; 374:154–163 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rudd RA, Aleshire N, Zibbell JE, et al. : Increases in drug and opioid overdose deaths—United States, 2000–2014. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2016; 64:1378–1382 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources