Mental disorders among persons with chronic back or neck pain: results from the World Mental Health Surveys

Demyttenaere, K., Bruffaerts, R., Lee, S., Posada-Villa, J., Kovess, V., Angermeyer, M., et al. (2007). Mental disorders among persons with chronic back or neck pain: results from the World Mental Health Surveys. Pain, 129(3), 332-342.

“Mental disorders among persons with chronic back or neck pain: results from the World Mental Health Surveys” documented the results of a cross-national and sectional study collaborated by researchers from 17 countries (Demyttenaere et al., 2007).

In this study, chronic pain is defined as pain lasting for over 12 months and mental health status is assessed using the 3rd version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) 3.0. The mental health disorders considered in this study include mood disorder (major depression and dysthymia), anxiety disorder (generalized anxiety disorder [GAD], panic disorder and/or agoraphobia, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], and social phobia) as well as substance abuse/dependency. These disorders are assessed based on the definitions and criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV).

For me, the most interesting part of the results is in the suggestion that… when looking at the association between mental disorders and back/neck pain, we need to be looking at the whole spectrum of the disorder but not only focusing on major depression. At the same time, this study, interesting enough, did not include psychotic disorders as part of its investigation.