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Pain management and addiction medicine are two specialized fields of medical practice that share a strong common interest in the mechanisms, clinical use, risks and benefits associated with opioid drugs and other therapies involving potentially abusable medications. In addition, there are profound clinical interactions between the potential for addictive disorders and the occurrence of unrelieved pain, which influence both the management of substance use disorders and the care of pain patients.
Despite this commonality of interests and concerns, the disciplines of pain management and addiction medicine have developed largely in isolation from one another. Equally important, both disciplines have been relatively marginalized in the education and training of clinicians. The separation of research and clinical practice applied to pain and addiction, and the failure to present all clinicians with a cohesive training approach in these disciplines, would seem to have negative consequences for both individuals and society in general. It may contribute to the undertreatment of pain, the medical abandonment of those dependent on opioids and wanting and needing help, the stigmatization of opioid drugs, and the placement of excessive regulatory barriers on clinical practice.
Pain and chemical dependency are complex phenomena and the interface between the two can and should be explored at every level from molecular biology to the public health perspective. The areas of greatest importance include:
Other Valuable Web Resource: American Pain Foundation Site