Other important forms of treatment are psychological and behavioural, looking at how the individual with chronic neuropathic pain copes. These treatments in their majority are not specific for neuropathic pain but can help all kinds of pain and they span a long list from one-to-one counseling, stress management, relaxation and imagery, all the way to intense interdisciplinary programs by teams of specialized professionals. These forms of treatments do not target the mechanism of pain (i.e. neuropathic or nociceptive etc), but they specifically address feelings, ideas, thoughts and fears that so often accompany chronic pain. One of the best treatments we have for pain in general is “distraction”, or in common language “taking your mind away from the pain”. When we tell our patients “do something that you find very interesting”, we do so because there is science behind such a statement. Usually pain is consummed by attention.

When attention is focused somewhere else, the pain perception gets weaker. It is a grave error, in my view, for people to believe that if the physician makes a suggestion for such treatments, it means “the pain is a figment of your imagination”. Chronic pain in general and neuropathic pain in particular, can take a toll on our emotions and our ability to cope with everyday adversities, as chronic pain can rob the sufferer from his/her ability to be a productive member of the society and changes one’s role as a parent, spouse, friend, daughter or son. You must check with your doctor or your health care plan in the province where you live, as most of these treatments are not covered, unless you have extended health benefits through work or privately paid insurance.

The next paper in this series will cover aggressive interventional treatments like injections and surgery.

Keywords: pain, treatments