Wiki dx question

soprano

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Does anyone know if a psychologist can use chronic pain as a billable dx for patients? Our pain management doctor is now referring all new paitnets for a psych eval and not all meet the criteria for a "psych" dx (depression, adjustment disorder, anxiety, etc.) She wants to use chronic pain. My only problem is that I can't find this in the DSM IV. Please help.
 
Does anyone know if a psychologist can use chronic pain as a billable dx for patients? Our pain management doctor is now referring all new paitnets for a psych eval and not all meet the criteria for a "psych" dx (depression, adjustment disorder, anxiety, etc.) She wants to use chronic pain. My only problem is that I can't find this in the DSM IV. Please help.

You won't find it in the DSM IV, because it's a neurological symptom, not psychological. Can you provide a little bit more context? Like, what is your doctor trying to accomplish in treating them? Are they trying to find alternative ways to cope with the pain, or is it that they suspect that the patient's pain is mostly psychogenic? It's hard to see why a patient would see a psychologist for pain management...:confused:
 
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