Answered Questions is a monthly resource for the Spanish language Disability Community that fills an information need. This month’s question is: Does chronic pain affect a person’s mental health and are there strategies to help deal with both? This edition of Answered Questions includes items that discuss the relationship between pain, depression, and resilience; the association of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and pain in Veterans; a psychological care program for chronic pain; the design of an educational tool used by physical therapists; an update on chronic pain and psychology; and includes a factsheet on chronic pain; a factsheet on current research on pain; and a guide to help control pain.
NIDILRR-Funded Projects:
The Relations Among Pain, Depression, and Resilience and their Prediction of Life Satisfaction in Men and Women with Spinal Cord Injury (90IF0099) (English) identifies and evaluates the relationship between pain, depression, and resilience, and how they predict life satisfaction in people with chronic pain after a spinal cord injury (SCI). This project specifically looks at the differences in men and women with SCI when it comes to the relationship between chronic pain and depression and physical, psychological, and social functioning; resilience characteristics; and the relationship between resilience characteristics, pain and depression, and physical, psychological, and social functioning.
From the NARIC Collection:
The article, Association of traumatic brain injury with chronic pain in Iran and Afghanistan veterans: Effect of comorbid mental health conditions (J76706) (English), discusses a study that investigated the association between traumatic brain injury (TBI), chronic pain, and pain disability in the context of comorbid conditions such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, in combat veterans. Findings from the study suggest that chronic pain and pain disability in combat veterans are commonly associated with TBI, PTSD, and depression.
Research In Focus:
Electrical Stimulation May Help Reduce Nerve Pain for People with Spinal Cord Injury, an article in NARIC’s Research In Focus series, discusses a study from the NIDILRR-funded Spaudling-Harvard Spinal Cord Injury System Center (English) and the Boston-Harvard Burn Injury Model System Center (English) that looked at the impact that electrical stimulation can have on nerve pain in people with SCI over time. Researchers wanted to know if a week of treatment would affect pain levels over a 3 month period and if adding a second set of treatment sessions would increase benefits.
Rehabilitation:
The article, A psychological care program for chronic pain: The challenge of active coping, discusses a structured group psychological intervention in the Pain Unit at the University Hospital of Getafe for people with different types of chronic pain. The program encourages the collaboration of Mental Health Services, Pain Unit staff, and Rehabilitation Services to teach coping strategies to people with chronic pain, such as reducing negative thoughts and feelings about pain and encouraging a positive attitude towards pain.
Education:
The article, The design of an educational tool for primary care patients with chronic non-specific low back pain (Atención Primaria), highlights the benefits of physical exercise on the management of chronic non-specific low back pain and discusses how the lack of knowledge of these benefits on the part of people with this type of pain may lead to genuine psychosocial risk factors. The article also presents the theoretical models and scientific basis on which researchers have based the design of an educational tool that primary care physiotherapists can use with patients with chronic non-specific low back pain.
Psychology:
Chronic pain and psychology: An update (The Journal of Clinical Medicine: Las Condes) analyzes the role of emotional, cognitive, and social factors in the development and persistence of pain and disability. It also discusses the implications of these factors on new evaluation designs and intervention strategies for people with chronic pain.
Resources:
- MedlinePlus from the National Library of Medicine (English) has a factsheet on chronic pain that defines the differences between pain, acute pain, and chronic pain. The factsheet also mentions different types of treatments available that may help with the different types of pain and leads the reader to in-depth articles on treatments and therapies, living with and managing pain, and related topics.
- The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has published a factsheet, Pain: Hope Through Research, that provides information on pain and includes a primer that discusses what is known about pain. The factsheet also discusses the anatomy of pain, inflammation, genetics, gender, pain in the elderly and children, and the future of pain research.
- The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) (English) has developed a guide, You Can Control Your Chronic Pain to Have a Good Life, for people with mental health or drug use disorders to help them better control their pain and to help them know what to expect from their medical care team. The guide includes sections on working with health care providers to control their pain, information on different ways to treat pain, and various resources.
Further Research:
REHABDATA:
PubMed:
International:
About Answered Questions
Each month, we look through the searches on our blog and through the information requests made by our patrons who speak Spanish and pick a topic that fills the largest need. Each resource mentioned above is associated with this month’s information need. We search the various Spanish language news sources and feeds throughout the month to bring you these articles. With the exception of the NIDILRR Projects, From the NARIC Collection, and Further Investigation, all the linked articles and resources are in Spanish – any that are in English will be clearly marked.
Collection Spotlight from the National Rehabilitation Information Center 