Journal of Psychiatry

Evidences for a bidirectional cause: Effect relationship between psychological factors and chronic pain disorders

Euro Global Summit and Medicare Expo on Psychiatry

July 20-22, 2015 Barcelona, Spain

Yuri Martins Costa

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Psychiatry

Abstract:

The medical field has evolved with the focus in fractional-? analytic way on biological process and assuming that the diseases should be investigated interms of causal chains of materially and conceptually comprehensible parts. Taking together with the abstract aspect of the human mind and the lack of appropriate methods to probe it is conceivable that this mechanistic view, i.e., the biomedical model in which the biological phenomena can fully explained by physical variables, has been the mainstream of medicine for so long. However, the human pain experience, in particular the chronic pain conditions, is a vulnerable point for the biomedical model, considering that it is not fully possible to explain the disability and the burden of pain only in terms of bodily impairments and biochemical reactions. In such scenario, the development of the biopsychosocial medical model and the identification of motivational and cognitive aspects of the pain can be regarded as important milestones in the understanding of the pain mechanisms and the pain experience in all its completeness. In particular, it is known that some psychosocial characteristics can predispose people to musculoskeletal chronic orofacial pain development, e.g., temporomandibular disorders (TMD). Otherwise, in a chronic state, pain itself could aggravate or contribute to psychological distress, generating a vicious cycle. On the other hand, pain management strategies not primarily related to psychosocial aspects have a positive effect on these same aspects in subjects with musculoskeletal disorders. Therefore, we can support the hypothesis of a psychological disorder (anxiety, depression and higher pain catastrophizing) being a consequence of masticatory myofascial pain, hence, indicating a bidirectional cause?effect relationship between pain and psychological factors.