Many people with chronic pain frequently become depressed due to living with under-treated or mistreated pain symptoms. This process starts when your thinking and emotions become problematic. This is when your thinking becomes irrational or dysfunctional and you start mismanaging your feelings; you often have urges to indulge in self-defeating, impulsive or compulsive behaviors to cope with your depression. This in turn affects your relationships with others.

One of the biggest problems in treating depression in people with chronic pain is a misdiagnosis—you or others do not realize that you are depressed. This occurs for two reasons: (1) when you live with chronic pain you often do not realize that you may also be suffering from a major depression; and (2) your healthcare provider is not looking for it. People living with chronic pain will often define their problem as strictly medical and related to the pain. Therefore, being alert to see if depression is present and being willing to develop a treatment strategy becomes a crucial component of an effective pain management treatment plan.

There are currently a variety of highly effective interventions available for the treatment of depression. The majority of depressive conditions can be treated with either psychotherapy (especially cognitive behavioral therapy) or medication, but research studies have indicated that a combination of these interventions is usually the most effective form of treatment for moderate to severe depression. There are also some types of depression that have a seasonal patterning where intensive Full Spectrum Lighting therapy is often effective in reducing symptoms. It should be emphasized that the majority of depressive conditions can be treated without hospitalization.

To learn more about depression and effective chronic pain management please check out my article The Role of Clinical Depression in Chronic Pain Management that you can download for free on our Ariticles page.

You can learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System at our website www.addiction-free.com. If you are working with people in chronic pain and want to learn how to develop a plan for managing their pain and coexisting psychological disorders including depression or addiction effectively please go to our Publications page and check out my book the Managing Pain and Coexisting Disorders: Using the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System. To purchase this book please Click Here.

To listen to a recent radio interview I did conducted by Mary Woods for her program One Hour at a Time please Click Here to go to this interview.

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