Many cancer patients experience moderate or severe pain.
While medical advances have led to more effective treatments for the management of pain, the presence of chronic pain in cancer remains a difficult problem and is often associated with suffering and distress. Now physicians at New York Weill Cornell Medical Center are seeking participants with chronic pain from cancer to undergo two different kinds of psychotherapy to determine which may be more effective in helping them cope with their pain. Over recent decades, it has become understood that a patient's thoughts and emotions and how they frame the meaning of pain can mediate levels of distress. Psychotherapists have gained experience in helping people who have chronic, severe pain. Cognitive-behavioral therapy engages the patient in finding coping strategies to allow the patient to gain a sense of control and mastery over pain and the suffering associated with pain.