ABSTRACT
Numerous research studies confirm the link between mood and physical symptoms of pain or discomfort. Counselors and other healthcare practitioners may well find themselves working with such individuals, and knowledge of the impact that pain may have can help facilitate empathy and help make sense of the association between pain and mental ill-health. The impulses are usually modulated on their way to the brain centers in various possible ways. In many cases, however, especially in the field of mental health, no physical cause of the pain can be identified. Somatisation is a very common process. Headache, whether of a migraine or non-migraine type, is a very common symptom in somatisation, leading to numerous referrals to neurological departments in order to exclude a serious condition such as a brain tumour. Anxiety disorders appear to produce a large variety of somatic symptoms. Brief focal psychotherapy has been shown to help resolve chronic pain.
