The pain and mental health comorbidity

Pain has had a perennial association with physical ailments, health disorders and injuries since time immemorial. Any form of severe physiological stress or disease triggers episodes of pain which can impact mental health and drastically affect the quality of life. An estimated 20% of the European adult population experiences chronic pain at some point in their life (Breivik et al., Reference Breivik, Collett, Ventafridda, Cohen and Gallacher2006). That is a staggering 150 million people with women at an increased risk of suffering from chronic pain than men (Bartley and Fillingim, Reference Bartley and Fillingim2013). As per an OECD report, 1 out of 6 people in the EU are affected by mental health (Ciucci, Reference Ciucci2020) amounting to an estimated economic impact of 4% of GDP or EUR 600 billion (D’Acci, Reference D’Acci2020). Post COVID-19 pandemic, the incidence is likely to have seen a dramatic rise. The European mental health strategy (EMHS) has therefore been a welcome and timely initiative to advance mental healthcare across the EU....