ABSTRACT
The management of pain is a basic tenet of palliative care practice. Some of the most complex and perplexing aspects of pain are those factors considered ‘non-organic’. Pain, psychiatry and psychology are intimately interconnected. Adequate pain relief is considered a human right by some advocates. Pain is common, and treatment is generally effective and cheap. Acute and chronic pains are very different clinical entities. In palliative care, most pains are nocioceptive (or somatic) and ‘acute’ in the sense that they signal physical damage being caused by the disease. The use of antidepressant medications in a wide variety of chronic pain syndromes, including cancer and neuropathic pains, is usual clinical practice. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are particularly indicated for boney pain and do have some opioid-sparing activity. The use of antidepressant medications in a wide variety of chronic pain syndromes, including cancer and neuropathic pains, is usual clinical practice.
