The Impact of Neuropathic Pain on Depression-A Systematic Review
Keywords:
Anxiety, Depression, Mental Health, PainAbstract
Background
Neuropathic pain, affecting 3-17% of the general population, is associated with significant mental health implications, particularly depression and anxiety. This pain, stemming from nervous system damage, often leads to depressive symptoms due to its persistence and challenges in traditional treatment methods. Understanding this connection between neuropathic pain and depression is of utmost importance as one may lead to another and vice versa and is crucial for comprehensive pain management and mental health support.
Methodology
A comprehensive review search was performed by two independent researcher with the keywords; 'neuropathic', 'neurological', 'depression' and 'mental health', on Scopus, CINAHL, Google Scholar, and PubMed. All studies that assessed neuropathic pain were included in this review. The outcome measure was depression measured using a Physical health questionnaire (PHQ-9).
Results
Seven eligible studies conducted from 2020 to 2024, were included in this review. The findings reported a strong association of neuropathic pain with depression-associated symptoms (p<0.05).
Conclusion
The synthesis of findings from diverse studies underscores the bi-directional relationship between neuropathic pain and depression, emphasizing the need for integrated approaches to pain management and mental health care.
Keywords
Anxiety, Depression, Mental Health, Pain.
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Copyright (c) 2023 Sara Jehangir, Shumaila Atif, Anusha Sajid, Syeda Sania Khalid
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