A note on the occurence of pain in psychiatric patients from a Canadian Indian and inuit population

Fifty patients are reported from a psychiatric service to a Native population. Thirty-two (64%) had pain of whom 19 had physical lesions. The number with pain is thought to be somewhat higher than might have been predicted from a priori considerations. Depression was the commonest psychiatric diagnosis both with and without pain. The head was the commonest site for pain whilst no patient had pain in the back as a primary complaint and only two had back pain as a secondary complaint.