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Pain and suicide: what should we tell our trainees?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2021

Soroush Pakniyat-Jahromi Open the ORCID record for Soroush Pakniyat-Jahromi [Opens in a new window] ,
Panagiota Korenis  and
Leo Sher
Soroush Pakniyat-Jahromi*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, BronxCare Health System, Bronx, NY, USA Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
Panagiota Korenis
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, BronxCare Health System, Bronx, NY, USA Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
Leo Sher
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA Department of Psychiatry, James J. Peters Veterans’ Administration Medical Center, Bronx, NY, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Soroush Pakniyat-Jahromi, Emails: sjahromi@bronxcare.org, soroushpakniyat@gmail.com
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Abstract

Chronic pain is a debilitating medical condition affecting a significant percentage of the population worldwide. Considerable evidence suggests that pain is an independent risk factor for suicide and inadequately managing pain has been identified as a risk for suicidal behaviour. Additionally, medications used to treat pain may also contribute to suicidal behaviour. Extensive research on pain highlights deficiencies in the clinical management on pain with more gaps in care when patients have pain in combination with mental illness and suicidal behaviour. Providing trainees additional knowledge and equipping them with relevant tools to screen and manage chronic pain efficiently is a potential strategy to mitigate suicide risk. Also, trainees need to be educated on how to screen for suicidality in individuals with pain and apply suicide prevention interventions. This paper will emphasise the necessity to improve education about pain, its close relationship with suicide and effective suicide screening as well as management strategies for medical providers. With additional research, it is the hope that novel treatment modalities will be developed to treat pain to improve the quality of life of individuals suffering from this condition and to decrease suicide risk in this patient population.

Keywords

chronic painmultidisciplinary approachpain managementsuicidetrainee education
Type
Perspective
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , June 2022 , pp. 127 - 131
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Scandinavian College of Neuropsychopharmacology

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