An Integrated Medical and Psychological Approach to Understanding and Assessing Chronic Pain

This chapter provides a brief summary of the literature on chronic pain in the context of personal injury and litigation/compensation (e.g., motor vehicle accidents, work place injury). It then presents an overview of the neurophysiology of pain and particularly addresses the legal issue of brain imaging “proof” of pain. It also provides a review of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and ICD (International Classification of Diseases) systems of classification of pain conditions with emphasis on the ICD 11 collaboration of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). This chapter concludes with an overview of the role of pain physician experts in medicolegal cases and offers advice for the expert pain specialist undertaking legal assessments.