African-American Men with Chronic Pain at Higher Risk for Depression

African-American men with chronic pain related to an accident, injury, illness, surgery, or other causes were more likely to experience depression, affective distress, and disability than white men with chronic pain, according to a new study by the University of Michigan Health System. The persistent pain black men experienced was more severe which might lead to greater disability, but the study by U-M researchers give clues to other factors that drive the downward spiral to depression and disability.

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Improves Sleep of Patients with Chronic Pain

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia significantly improved sleep for patients with chronic neck or back pain and also reduced the extent to which pain interfered with their daily functioning, according to a study by University of Rochester Medical Center researchers. The study, published online by the journal Sleep Medicine, demonstrates that a behavioral intervention can help patients who already are taking medications for pain and might be reluctant or unable to take additional drugs to treat sleep disturbance.

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Childhood Abuse Linked to Migraine and Other Pain Disorders

Researchers from the American Headache Society’s Women’s Issues Section Research Consortium found that incidence of childhood maltreatment, especially emotional abuse and neglect, are prevalent in migraine patients. The study also found that migraineurs reporting childhood emotional or physical abuse and/or neglect had a significantly higher number of comorbid pain conditions compared with those without a history of maltreatment. Full findings of the study appear in the January issue of Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain,published on behalf of the American Headache Society by Wiley-Blackwell.

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Associations Explored Between Chronic Pain, Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent School Performance

Adolescents have much to distract them during their school days. A sudden awareness in the opposite sex, new independence as they gain freedom from more restrictive elementary school schedules, and pressure to do well academically and in extracurricular activities keep adolescents’ minds busy. What happens if you throw an additional major circumstance into a child’s life?

Recent research says that adolescents who struggle with chronic pain can have depressive symptoms that lead to problems with school functioning. A study done by Logan, Simons, and Kaczynski at Harvard University Medical School examined the dynamics of the challenges adolescents face when dealing with chronic pain.

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Study Suggests Link Between Social Pain and Physical Pain

Individuals throughout the world have felt the impact of social rejection. Whether it occurred in elementary school, high school or the work place, social rejection can wreak havoc on a person’s mental health.

Now, research is finding a link between physical pain sensitivity and social pain sensitivity, putting to shame the phrase, “Your words can never hurt me.” UCLA psychologists argue that they indeed can hurt.

Science Daily published a summary of a study completed by these psychologists. According to their findings, variation in the mu-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1), which is often associated with physical pain, is related to how much social pain a person feels in response to social rejection.

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Major Depression Contributes to Pain Symptoms

Pain is a complicated thing as symptoms cannot always be fully attributed to an organic origin for those suffering from depression. Dirk Frieser, psychologist at the Institute of Psychology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, notes in a recent Science Daily report that women are more frequently affected by depression and by the so-called somatoform pain disorder.

Somatoform symptoms are those that cannot by fully explained in medical terms. Surprisingly, this is a widespread phenomenon. Frieser noted, “up to 80 percent of the symptoms reported in GP practices are somatoform. However, this does not mean that patients are simply ‘imagining’ that they have these symptoms.”

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Emotional State Directly Relates to Pain Levels in RA Patients

It is a well-known fact a person’s emotional state can directly impact their health. The same is also true in the reverse as the physical state can play havoc on mental health. In the case of patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), depression is extremely likely.

Science Daily recently published a release showing severe chronic pain accompanied by progressive destruction, disability and disfigurement is known to increase the risk of experiencing emotional disturbances. For RA patients, they are doubly at risk.

The interrelationship between levels of depression symptoms, C-reactive protein (CRP) level and pain were studied by researchers at Nagoya City University and Nagoya University Graduate Schools of Medicine in Japan.

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Antidepressant Therapy Combined with Pain Self-Management Improves Patient Outlook

Pain is the most common reason that an adult will visit a primary care physician. Depression is the most common mental complaint that requires a doctor’s appointment. For as many as half of patients, these often occur together at the same time.

Science Daily recently published a release examining a report from researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute. In this report, researchers shared that a closely monitored antidepressant therapy combined with pain self-management could produce significant improvements in both depression and pain.

“Treating depression these days is like treating high blood pressure. There are many effective drugs out there. To control high blood pressure, the physician closely monitors the patient to determine the most appropriate drug and the proper dosage,” said the study’s principal investigator, Kurt Kroenke, M.D., professor of medicine at the IU School of Medicine and a Regenstrief investigator.

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Long-Term Use of NSAIDs Is Dangerous for Elderly People, Experts Say

Most people don’t think about the consequences of taking too much ibuprofen or aspirin over time. But experts say that people over 75 should think twice before using NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) to treat their pain, especially if the pain and pill-taking are chronic. In late April, a panel of the American Geriatrics Society removed almost all NSAIDs from the list of recommended medications for adults age 75 and older with chronic pain.

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