title: Dealing with difficult patients in your pain practice.
abstract: Pain patients can be difficult. They can provoke negative feelings of frustration and anger among clinicians and damage the doctor-patient relationship. This article helps practitioners to identify those pain patients who would be prone to difficult behavior and sheds light on some of the reasons behind the behavior that give rise to difficult feelings. Issues of comorbid psychopathology, hostility, suicidality, aberrant drug behavior, and chronic noncompliance are discussed. Specific recommendations are also given of the best ways to manage patients with difficult behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Ajay D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Wasan
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wootton
authors.forename: Robert N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Jamison
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D002983:Clinical Competence; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D059408:Pain Management; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology*; D010551:Personality; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011364:Professional Practice / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders; D016312:Treatment Refusal