Pain, Depression and Inflammation: Are Interconnected Causative Factors Involved?

Abstract

Co-morbid depression and chronic pain are highly prevalent. The purpose of this review is to examine the role of chronic inflammation as a common mediator of these co-morbidities. Dysfunctional bidirectional pathways between the brain and the immune, endocrine and neurotransmitter systems have been extensively described and implicated in pain and psychiatric disorders. This short review therefore accesses the evidence in favour of the psychoneuroendocrine hypothesis of psychiatric disorders under three main headings: (1) by illustrating how different types of stress play a crucial role in initiating chronic inflammation in major depression, (2) by accessing the evidence that pain is frequently an important component of, and an initiator of, depression, and (3) considering the evidence that chronic inflammation provides an important link between chronic pain and depression, and the possible cellular mechanisms involved in this process. By understanding the critical role that chronic inflammation plays in pain and depression, novel approaches to the development of drugs may emerge that offer improvements in treatment.