Chronic Pain:Coping With Chronic Pain

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Chronic Pain

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  2. Pain Tests, Doctors, and Attitudes
  3. Low Back Pain
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  6. Living With Fibromyalgia
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  8. Drugs: Relief and Addiction
  9. Alternative Pain Therapies
  10. Coping With Chronic Pain

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Video

"Depression and Chronic Pain Is Extremely Common"

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"Between 30 and 60% of people with chronic pain also have a depression" (1:06)
Russell Portenoy, MD, a leading pain expert, explains how these conditions require carefully coordinated treatment.

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“The relationship between pain and depression is complicated,” says Russell Portenoy, MD, chairman of the Department of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. “In some patients, depression follows the pain, and if you can effectively treat the pain, the depression would get better. And in some patients the depression seems to drive the pain.” In this video, Dr. Portenoy explains that when these two conditions coexist, patients need carefully coordinated treatment.