Injuries=Pain=Depression=Suicide?

A new study in BMC Psychiatry investigated the connections between people injured on the job, and chronic pain, depression/anxiety, and suicide. During outpatient visits from the 2 largest workers’ compensation hospitals and systems in Chile, over 1,940 patients were evaluated via 3 questionnaires and the Columbia–Suicide Severity Rating Scale.

Findings included:

• High chronic pain perception: 46% of participants
• Depression: 38.2%
• Anxiety: 23.8%
• Suicidal ideation: 13.4%
• Suicidal behavior: 2.4%

The study concluded that findings “reinforce the knowledge that chronic pain and associated psychiatric symptoms may not be independent entities but rather comorbid symptoms interacting synergistically. …symptoms negatively affect treatment response and undermines patients’ general health, quality of life, and physical functioning.” An interdisciplinary approach “will be most promising for patients with chronic pain and optimize their quality of life and other health outcomes.”

 

Read the journal article.

Other Categories:

• pain assessment

• pain diagnostics

• pain management

• suicide