Psychology of patients with sacrolumbar pain
Ríos Garciá, L.R.
Boletin de la Asociacion Medica de Puerto Rico 73(9): 425-430
1981
ISSN/ISBN: 0004-4849 PMID: 6460510 Document Number: 701339
The purpose of this article is to explore the psychological experience of low back pain patients. It is assumed that the experience of pain, in general, is a function of constitutional, genetic and learning or emotional factors. Therefore, although many patients with acute trauma in the low back region improve and are able to make progress toward rehabilitation, others integrate their experience of pain into a life style in such a way that this experience is rinde permanent and chronic. The article presents some characteristics of these chronic pain patients in tercos of what could be called the invalid role. Causes, psychodynamics, and factors which reinforce or maintain this role in patients, family, and others, are explored. Moreover, the paper also explores the functions that this life style serves for these patients from a psychological perspective and illustrative cases are presented. Finally, the article presents and briefly discusses implications for the treatment of these patients on the basis of a multidisciplinary framework.
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