Via practica 4/2024

Chronic pain and depression

Depression is characterized by depressed mood, anhedonia, weight change, loss of appetite, sleep disturbance, psychomotor symptoms, cognitive problems, and other symptoms. Pain is an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or a condition described in connection with such damage. Although the exact data on the duration of chronic pain varies in the literature, the most common information in the literature is that it lasts more than three months. Both chronic pain and depression are highly prevalent in old age and often coincide. Based on clinical recommendations and experience, adjuvant treatment with antidepressants has been shown to improve the management of chronic pain. Many antidepressants have an analgesic effect, and the most potent analgesic effect is observed in treatment with duloxetine.

Keywords: depression, chronic pain, antidepressants, analgesic treatment, psychotherapy