Pathology

Disease

Quality of life (healthcare)

Psychotherapist

Clinical psychology

Biopsychosocial model

Psychiatry

Nursing

Distress

Surgery

Intensive care medicine

Physical therapy

Psychology

Optimism

Affect (linguistics)

Neuropathic pain

Chronic pain

Multimodal therapy

Psychological pain

Communication

Medicine

Pharmacology

The Lancet

Chronic pain exerts an enormous personal and economic burden, affecting more than 30% of people worldwide according to some studies. Unlike acute pain, which carries survival value, chronic pain might be best considered to be a disease, with treatment (eg, to be active despite the pain) and psychological (eg, pain acceptance and optimism as goals) implications. Pain can be categorised as nociceptive (from tissue injury), neuropathic (from nerve injury), or nociplastic (from a sensitised nervous system), all of which affect work-up and treatment decisions at every level; however, in practice there is considerable overlap in the different types of pain mechanisms within and between patients, so many experts consider pain classification as a continuum.

Chronic pain: an update on burden, best practices, and new advances