Chronic Pain

In the opening chapter of Chronic Pain: Prevalence, Management and Outcomes, the authors examine how the health care professional might psychologically approach the management of chronic pain. The nocebo effect of some communications will be highlighted, as well as ways to utilise the patient's internal resources to reduce emotional distress. Following this, a study exploring pain coping mechanisms amongst Maltese chronic pain patients is presented. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 participants, and findings derived from a grounded theory methodology revealed that Maltese often display reluctance to rely on pharmacological therapies. The authors address the need for pain treatment, the reduced interference of interventional pain management, the increase of patient self-efficacy, and methods of acceptance for some chronic pain. The closing chapter analyzes 3,434 scheduled prescription drug records for 94 chronic back pain patients from a single clinic, comparing 52 patients enrolled in the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Program with 42 non-enrolled patients over a 24 month period.