Coping With Sickle Cell Disease Pain

Pain is a significant problem affecting children, adolescents, and adults with sickle cell disease (SCD). Newly developed behavioral methods have advantages for assessing how individuals cope with pain; however these methods have not been widely applied in the analysis of SCD pain. This paper presents a new perspective on coping with SCD pain. The literature regarding the behavioral assessment and behavioral and psychological treatment of SCD pain is reviewed. Advances in the assessment and treatment of other pain problems are then summarized in order to give direction to future behavioral assessment and treatment studies in the area of SCD pain.