Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Correspondence: melanie. Chronic pain during childhood and adolescence can lead to persistent pain problems and mental health disorders into adulthood. Posttraumatic stress disorders and depressive and anxiety disorders are mental health conditions that co-occur at high rates in both adolescent and adult samples, and are linked to heightened impairment and disability.
Particularly within the pediatric chronic pain population, these factors are embedded within the broader context of the parent—child relationship. In this review, we will explore the epidemiology of, and current working models explaining, these comorbidities.
Particular emphasis will be made on shared neurobiological mechanisms, given that the majority of previous research to date has centered on cognitive, affective, and behavioral mechanisms. Parental contributions to co-occurring chronic pain and psychopathology in childhood and adolescence will be discussed. Moreover, we will review current treatment recommendations and future directions for both research and practice. We argue that the integration of biological and behavioral approaches will be critical to sufficiently address why these comorbidities exist and how they can best be targeted in treatment.
Keywords: chronic pain, posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, neurobiology, stress, brain, comorbidity, parent, intervention. Poorly managed pain in childhood can lead to persistent pain problems and mental health disorders into adulthood [ 3 , 4 ].
In a longitudinal study, youth with chronic abdominal pain were found to be at greater risk of developing anxiety and depressive disorders as compared to youth without chronic pain [ 3 , 5 ].
