Stress and Pain: Conclusions and Future Directions. Conclusions and Future Directions.

This book was set out to address the connection between emotions, stress, and pain, an important research and clinical issue that needed an organized synthesis and research agenda. Pain is the most common complaint among people seeking treatment from physicians or practitioners of alternative and complementary medicine. We also know that stress has various physiological and psychological effects that help explain many of the factors that exacerbate and maintain pain. A better understanding of how emotions, stress, and pain interact and a better understanding of how such interactions can worsen or improve painful conditions would be valuable to pain clinicians and to others working in the field of psychosomatic and behavioral medicine.