Practical Pain ManagementStigma Adds to the Burden of Lived Chronic Pain

The literature on chronic pain and stigma was reviewed by a group of academics from Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, who published their findings in the journal Pain and Therapy. Perhaps most unexpectedly, they discovered that stigma surrounding pain persists even in clinical settings, resulting in clinicians’ inadequate evaluations of patients’ pain, doubt about the reality of their suffering, and lower pain ratings. These factors frequently result in inadequate treatment of pain and a propensity to believe that it is solely a psychological disorder.