Evaluating Patients with Chronic Pain and their Families: How you can recognize maladaptive patterns.

Inclusion of family members in the assessment of patients with chronic pain can improve outcomes. Family functioning can be assessed in four basic areas: boundaries, power, communication, and intimacy. Early recognition of maladaptive patterns in the family allows the family physician to consider a variety of interventions ranging from educating the spouse to referring the family for therapy or multidisciplinary pain management.