General Guideline Principles for Psychological Issues
for workers compensation patients

The New York State workers compensation board has developed these guidelines to help physicians, podiatrists, and other healthcare professionals provide appropriate treatment for Psychological Issues.

These Workers Compensation Board guidelines are intended to assist healthcare professionals in making decisions regarding the appropriate level of care for their patients with ankle and foot disorders.

The guidelines are not a substitute for clinical judgement or professional experience. The ultimate decision regarding care must be made by the patient in consultation with his or her healthcare provider.

Psychological Issues of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

Also check Medical Clinical Guidelines for PTSD, Depressive Disorders, and Work-Related Depression. There are several ways that pain and disability are thought to be affected by the fear associated with pain.

Although avoiding pain is a reasonable response, people who experience more pain-related worry tend to avoid more events than would be expected because they think they would hurt, which leads to increased activity avoidance.

Therefore, in addition to the pain itself, fear related to pain and the resulting avoidance of activity may also cause impairment. Greater physical deconditioning may result from this, but it may also cause musculoskeletal anomalies such as muscle guarding when bending, which may directly influence pain behavior.

Greater perceived impairment is highly correlated with pain-related dread. A potent intervention for continuous pain caused by CRPS involves gradually exposing patients to frightening activities as a strategy to lessen or eliminate pain-related dread. A decrease in fear of pain may lessen pain hypervigilance, which would lead to a decrease in the reported pain intensity. Improvements in functional restoration programs may be partially attributed to decreased fear of pain.

The Biopsychosocial Mode

According to the biopsychosocial model (BPS), optimism, social support, effective coping, a good attitude, motivation, and a work ethic are all components of health.

The concept sees conditions like CRPS-caused chronic pain as the outcome of a dynamic interplay between physiologic, cognitive, and social elements that sustain and may exacerbate the clinical presentation. The approach thus accounts for some individuals with severe wounds who exhibit exceptional resilience, motivation, and recovery.

The BPS model takes into account the reality that each person experiences pain differently, with a range of psychological & socioeconomic variables interacting with biological pathology to regulate a patient’s report of signs and eventual disability.

These in turn are thought to result in core neurochemical alterations, with chronic pain altering the sympathetic nervous system to enhance sensitivity to incoming impulses that intensify the pain.

Activation is thought to cause additional physiological changes, the magnitude of which is hypothesized to depend on intrinsic (genetic and biological) and extrinsic factors. These changes are thought to exacerbate and perpetuate a syndrome in which the undergo of pain multiplies despite the absence of any obvious causes for this to happen.

Pain is described as an unpleasant sensory AND emotional response in the BPS Model.

It is well recognized that pain consists of nociception, pain, suffering, emotional, and pain behavior components. In the absence of nociception (or neuropathy), pain perception is still possible, and vice versa.

Pain behavior is “any response or collection of actions which transmits the concept of distress to another person,” according to a definition used in clinical settings. The notion of disease behavior, which includes various health-related complaints and behaviors, may be added to the term.

Acute pain presentations may include pain behaviors as symptoms, but over time, they may become under the control of different psychosocial or learning effects. The idea that these actions might be intentionally “exaggerated” or “magnified” symptoms is widespread.

Direct evaluation of this is not possible, and unfavorable notions are frequently attached to it. Due to CRPS, individuals with chronic pain may develop pain or disease behaviors that are related to a variety of psychosocial antecedents and teaching or conditioning impacts.

Such conduct should be thought of as a clinical finding because there is no known connection between nerve injury, pain, and pain behavior when a disorder becomes as severe as CRPS. Additionally, pain behavior is not the same as “secondary gain”.

While the latter is typically premised on assuming that the injured party is seeking rewards or other positive outcomes from their damage, pain behavior can be learned or conditioned, molded, and maintained by mild reinforcement in people about whom such psychological inferences may be improper.

There is proof that people with CRPS and non-acute pain may be especially sensitive to classical and operant conditioning when developing pain responses. Chronic non-malignant pain can intensify discomfort as well as promote psychosocial and behavioral dysfunction. When developing solutions to address these problems, the differences between these scenarios become crucial.

What our office can do if you have workers compensation injuries

We have the experience to help you with their workers compensation injuries. We understand what you are going through and will meet your medical needs and follow the guidelines set by the New York State Workers Compensation Board.

We understand the importance of your workers compensation cases. Let us help you navigate through the maze of dealing with the workers compensation insurance company and your employer.

We understand that this is a stressful time for you and your family. If you would like to schedule an appointment, please contact us so we will do everything we can to make it as easy on you as possible.