Chronic benign pain (CBP) can be defined as a type of unpleasant sensory experience that arises from inflammation, visceral stress or damage, or other such pathophysiologic process(es), and that is not associated with a metastatic process. A patient's complaint of pain should be taken seriously by the practitioner, both in terms of the discomfort evoked and the likelihood that the potential cause of the pain requires diagnostic evaluation. This article reviews the diagnosis and treatment of the following common conditions associated with CBP syndromes: fibromyalgia, lower back pain syndrome, sickle-cell disease, reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome, and peripheral neuropathies.

In this article, we will first present an overview of the epidemiology and classification of headaches, distinguishing between primary headaches (in which the headache itself is the primary disorder) and secondary headaches (ie, headaches due to an underlying condition, such as a neoplastic and/or space-occupying lesion, a cerebrovascular accident, or other type of structural brain lesion). We will use the current classification system of the International Headache Society, focusing on primary headache disorders (migraine, tension-type headache, cluster headache), which we will discuss from the practical clinical perspectives of diagnosis and clinical management. Throughout this article, we will emphasize the chronicity and periodicity of headaches as a type of chronic pain syndrome.

Although the incidence of cancer and cancer-related deaths has declined in recent years, undertreatment of cancer-related pain continues to be a significant problem. By thoroughly assessing chronic malignant pain (CMP) as it relates to cancer and achieving a more complete understanding of the CMP syndromes experienced by cancer patients, psychiatrists and neurologists can formulate accurate diagnoses of patients' clinical pain syndromes and construct well-defined, individual management plans for each patient.

Emphasizing the importance of an interdisciplinary approach in the treatment and management of patients with chronic pain syndromes (CPS), this article reviews, first, non-pharmacologic approaches and modalities for CPS patients, and next, pharmacologic approaches for CPS patients. Flexibility and the use of multiple modalities are emphasized. The article concludes with the controversial subject of the use of long-term analgesic opioid pharmacotherapy in patients with chronic benign pain syndromes.

To gain a better understanding and a more complete assessment of chronic pain syndrome, the psychosocial, psychological, psychodynamic, and psychiatric aspects of this condition should be included in patient evaluation. As illustrated in the two case studies presented, this approach leads to clearer recognition of the biological and psychosocial needs of patients, and allows for more effective treatment measures to be taken.

This paper outlines potential research applications of the unquantified (paper or digital) electroencephalography (EEG) in psychiatry. Three main areas are highlighted: first, the need for thorough familiarity with the unquantified EEG is emphasized, including the ability to confidently recognize all normal and abnormal activities that could influence further analysis of the record as well as artifacts that can contaminate the tracings; second, the fact that definitive studies relating EEG abnormalities to psychiatric symptomatology and clinical response are lacking; and third, the potential for EEG to be utilized as a tool to decrease the risk of invasive research studies is discussed.

Although psychotic symptoms are a recognized manifestation of epilepsy, these are more often associated with seizures of the temporal lobe type. While 10% of children with temporal lobe epilepsy develop a psychotic disorder by adulthood, the literature does not report any cases of psychotic disorders associated with frontal lobe seizures in children. This article presents a unique case of a girl whose frontal lobe seizures were associated with delusional psychotic symptoms. Once her seizure disorder was identified through electroencephalography (EEG) and appropriate anticonvulsant therapy was initiated, her associated psychotic symptoms resolved.