Psychiatrists Can and Should Treat Chronic Pain: A Skill-Based Workshop-View Presentation

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Video Summary

This workshop emphasizes the role psychiatrists can play in managing chronic pain, often co-occurring with psychiatric conditions like depression and anxiety. Dr. Ellen Edens, an addiction psychiatrist, Dr. Alexis Vian from internal medicine focusing on addiction, and their team highlight the intersection of chronic pain management with mental health. They point out that a significant percentage of chronic pain patients suffer from psychological disorders, complicating treatment.<br /><br />The workshop proposes a biopsychosocial approach, suggesting that understanding a patient's mental health can aid in addressing both mental and physical symptoms of pain. This involves leveraging psychiatric tools like SNRIs, which can treat both depression and pain. With chronic pain often being misunderstood or undiagnosed, the session seeks to equip psychiatrists to better assess and co-manage pain through collaboration with other healthcare providers and employing well-known psychiatric treatment models including CBT and pharmacology.<br /><br />The workshop also delves into the use of opioids for chronic pain management. It highlights the risks of long-term opioid therapy, including tolerance, dependence, and limited efficacy beyond six months. Transitioning to buprenorphine, a safer opioid with less risk of respiratory depression and tolerance, is discussed as a viable treatment alternative. The session underscores the importance of non-medication treatments like physical therapies and psychotherapy, and aims to empower psychiatrists to utilize their expertise in both addiction and pain management fields to improve patient care, while advocating for a holistic, multimodal treatment approach.

Keywords

chronic pain

psychiatrists

mental health

biopsychosocial approach

SNRIs

CBT

opioids

buprenorphine

addiction

pain management

depression

anxiety