By Carol Levy, PNN Columnist

I recently read an article in KevinMD. The author, a family doctor in Maine, wrote about the need for more behavioral (mental) health treatment in primary care settings:

“We are doing that with chronic pain. Any patient who needs ongoing pain medication is required to attend four individual sessions to learn about what pain is, how the brain is the center of the pain experience, and how our pain experience can be altered by internal and external factors. We don’t use ‘pain scales’ for the simple reason that pain is never objective.”

As I read that, my blood boiled. I am sick of this concept that those of us with chronic pain need to be educated on how pain works, how our brains work, and how our pain can be mediated or controlled by mental health therapy.