[Behavioral concepts in the treatment of chronic pain].

In recent decades there has been much work on cognitive behavioral approaches to chronic pain. Now there is a considerable variety of concepts and interventions which share the same roots but differ in theoretical issues and application. Psychotherapeutic interventions are ideally embedded into an interdisciplinary setting and base on a bio-psycho-social perspective. Starting from a classical operant model we will describe the model of fear avoidance and the model of acceptance in the therapy of chronic pain. The latter have been influencing therapy and theory in recent years. The cognitive behavioral perspective on chronic pain has, therefore, not only become more differentiated and complex but also more complicated.