Chronic Pain Assessment and Validation

The following case presentation and clinical discussion addresses the complex task of objectively evaluating the intensely subjective experience of chronic pain. Pain, when sustained, becomes intertwined with distress and suffering. Clinicians, case managers, life care planners, and consultants must sort through legitimate symptom presentations as well as behaviors supported by environmental factors or external circumstances (secondary gain) in order to formulate sound treatment, case management strategies, and life care plans. Methodically approaching this endeavor from both physical and neuropsychological perspectives addresses the organic and emotional dynamic characteristic of clients with chronic pain. This article offers a case presentation that typifies the two-part exercise of assessment followed by validation of findings and assumptions, as related to a disabling industrial soft-tissue injury.