In Conversation With Chronic Pain: An Integrative Framework for Understanding and Treating Chronic Pain

Abstract

Chronic pain as an entity presents a challenge across many domains of life. It fails to serve adaptive or physiological functions. Beyond the exorbitant economic burden and strain on our healthcare system, chronic pain takes a heavy toll on the psychosocial and emotional wellbeing of sufferers and their relationships. As a complex biopsychosocial condition, routine treatments can ignore important variables, rendering them insufficient in relieving patient suffering. Research examining psychological management strategies for chronic pain is largely dominated by cognitive-behavioural models of therapy. Psychodynamic psychotherapeutic models have been substantially less explored. Through a relational lens, this theoretical essay explores aetiological influences of chronic pain. Consideration of the intersection of trauma, attachment, and pain then grounds an argument for a psychodynamic approach to chronic pain management.