Psychological Aspects and Quality of Life in Chronic Pain

Pain, if not the worst, is one of the worst symptoms that a patient experiences and has a detrimental effect on the patients' quality of life [1]. Chronic pain, usually defined as lasting for a period of more than 3？months, is prevalent in a variety of diseases including peripheral neuropathy [2–8], neurodegenerative diseases [9, 10], and cancer [11]. Presence of chronic pain has an independent additional burden to patients' mental health, increasing significantly the risk of depression [12]. Successful management of pain, with both pharmacological and nonpharmacological approaches, can improve the quality of life and ameliorate patients' mental health status [13–18]