For those who live alone it can be a death curse. For others, the whole structure of the family may change. One partner may resent having to be the sole breadwinner, especially if they've always been taken care of. The one in chronic pain tries to be cheery, to be the same as before, to hang onto the love and life they've known, but chronic pain changes lives, period. It seems that one loss piles on another and another until the burden has become so twisted and convoluted that it takes on a life of its own.
Spirits sink, gradually and almost immeasurable at first, then more and more.
A spiral like water draining out a sink with a clogged pipe. Slowly but inevitably depression joins the pain. Conceived by psychoanalyst Aaron Beck , this has been standard tool for 30 years. Patients rate the severity of 21 symptoms on a scale of 1 to 4. For the 254 patients, the average score was 15.82 out of a possible 63, with the least depressed scoring 7 and the most depressed 50.