View source for Medicine:Psychogenic pain

{{Infobox medical condition (new)
| name            = Psychogenic pain
| synonyms        = Psychalgia<ref>Psychalgia - Physical pain that is possibly of psychological origin. [http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/psychalgia American Heritage Medical Dictionary]. But see also psychalgia in the sense of [[Medicine:Psychological pain|psychological pain]].</ref>
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| field           = [[Biology:Psychiatry|Psychiatry]]
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'''Psychogenic pain''' is [[Medicine:Pain|physical pain]] that is caused, increased, or prolonged by mental, emotional, or behavioral factors.<ref name="cleveland">{{cite web|url=http://my.clevelandclinic.org/services/Pain_Management/hic_Psychogenic_Pain.aspx|title=Psychogenic & Psychological Pain&|publisher=Cleveland Clinic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Psychogenic_pain|title=Psychogenic pain|date=7 October 2019|publisher= Biology-Online Dictionary}}</ref><ref>Merskey and Spear defined psychogenic pain as "... pain which is independent of peripheral stimulation or of damage to the nervous system and due to emotional factors, or else pain in which any peripheral change (e.f. muscle tension) is a consequence of emotional factors." Merskey, H., Spear F.G. (1967). ''Pain, psychological and psychiatric aspects''. London. Bailliere, Tindall & Cassell.  {{ISBN|0-7020-0006-X}}</ref> 

Headache, back pain, or stomach pain are some of the most common types of psychogenic pain.<ref name="cleveland"/> It may occur, rarely, in persons with a [[Medicine:Mental disorder|mental disorder]], but more commonly it accompanies or is induced by [[Social:Social rejection|social rejection]], broken heart, grief, lovesickness, or other such emotional events. 

[[Social:Suffering|Sufferers]] are often stigmatized, because both medical professionals and the general public tend to think that pain from psychological source is not "real". 

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, ''or described in terms of such damage''" (emphasis added). In the note accompanying that definition, the following can be found about pain that happens for psychological reasons:<ref>[http://www.iasp-pain.org/Education/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=1698&navItemNumber=576 IASP Pain Terminology]</ref> 
<blockquote>
Many people report pain in the absence of tissue damage or any likely pathophysiological cause; usually this happens for psychological reasons. There is usually no way to distinguish their experience from that due to tissue damage if we take the subjective report. If they regard their experience as pain and if they report it in the same ways as pain caused by tissue damage, it should be accepted as pain.
</blockquote> 

Medicine refers also to psychogenic pain or psychalgia as a form of [[Medicine:Chronic pain|chronic pain]] under the name of ''persistent somatoform pain disorder''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://apps.who.int/classifications/icd10/browse/2010/en#/F45.4|title=ICD-10 Version:2010}}</ref> or ''functional pain syndrome''.<ref>http://www.iasp-pain.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=IASP_Press_Books2&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=10116 {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110822074626/http://www.iasp-pain.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=IASP_Press_Books2&Template=%2FCM%2FHTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=10116 |date=2011-08-22 }}</ref> Causes may be linked to stress, unexpressed emotional conflicts, psychosocial problems, or various [[Medicine:Mental disorder|mental disorder]]s. Some specialists believe that psychogenic chronic pain exists as a protective distraction to keep dangerous repressed emotions such as anger or rage unconscious.<ref name="Sarno-DividedMind">Sarno, John E., MD, et al., ''The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders'' 2006 ({{ISBN|0-06-085178-3}})</ref> 

It remains controversial, however, that chronic pain might arise purely from emotional causes.<ref>Stephen Tyrer, [http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/188/1/91?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&volume=188&firstpage=91&resourcetype=HWCIT Psychosomatic pain], The British Journal of Psychiatry (2006) 188: 91-93</ref> 
==See also==
*[[Medicine:Pain disorder|Pain disorder]]
*[[Medicine:Psychogenic disease|Psychogenic disease]]
*[[Medicine:Psychological trauma|Psychological trauma]]
*[[Biology:Psychoneuroimmunology|Psychoneuroimmunology]]
*[[Medicine:Psychosomatic medicine|Psychosomatic medicine]]
*[[Medicine:Tension myositis syndrome|Tension myositis syndrome]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Medical resources
|  DiseasesDB     =  
|  ICD10          = {{ICD10|F|45|4|f|40}} 
|  ICD9           = {{ICD9|307.8}} 
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|  MedlinePlus    = 000922
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{{Mental and behavioural disorders|selected = neurotic}}

[[Category:Clinical psychology]]

{{Sourceattribution|Psychogenic pain|1}}