Study: The Association of Depression and Anxiety with Pain

Authors of this study with 3000 people state that chronic pain is common in up to 70% of patients with depressive and anxiety disorders. We need to be screening for and treating both anxiety and depression as main driving factors in chronic pain. Anxiety and depression ARE emotions (fear, anger, sadness) so a big part of treating and healing chronic conditions is working with our emotions.

CONCLUSION: “This study shows that depressive and anxiety disorders have a similar and very strong association with the CPG (which includes pain-related disability and pain intensity) and musculoskeletal pain, cardio respiratory pain, and gastro-intestinal pain compared to a control group without depressive or anxiety disorder. Depression and anxiety share the same pathophysiological pathways as pain and can have a reciprocal effect on each other, which could explain these associations.”

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0106907