Psychogenic pain is the term for pain that is primarily triggered by psychological factors, such asdepressionand anxiety.

Psychogenic pain is often harder to treat thannociceptive painorneuropathic pain.

Traditional painkillers are designed to treat physical problems, such as inflammation or nerve dysfunction.

Depressed woman sitting on the ground with her head in her arms

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With psychogenic pain, however, there is often no physical cause to find and treat.

Instead, psychological factors contribute to the onset, severity, and exacerbation of the pain.

Your physician should elicit a history to uncover such psychological factors.

First, people with psychogenic pain can miss work due to the pain.

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