Issues of Acceptance in Chronic Pain Populations‪.‬

Chronic pain, defined as recur- rent pain which last for longer than six months, represents a wide spread and challenging problem affecting as many as 75 million Americans and which has considerable impact on the quality of life for the people who are experiencing it (Borrica, 1987; Frymoyer & Cats-Baril, 1991). For many of these individuals no clear diagnosable etiology for their pain will be identified (Deyo, 1986; Dworkin & Massoth, 1994) and, despite substantial expenditures, in many, if not most cases, chronic pain continues to be poorly managed within traditional medical settings (Crook, Weir & Turks, 1989). To improve treatment outcome and broaden our understanding of this complex behavior, a number of theorists have expended the conceptualization of pain to include psychological factors and indeed the official definition of pain acknowledges the presence and role of psychological factors in the experience of pain (Flor & Turk, 1984; Fordyce, 1976; Gatchel & Turk, 1996). Within the now broadly recognized biosocial model, pain is defined as a physical, emotional, and behavioral experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage (Gatchel & Turk, 1996; Melzack & Walls, 1982).