Psychalgia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Psychalgia is psychological or emotional pain or distress that accompanies a mental effort, especially in clinical depression. It is also called phrenalgia. Psychalgia may also describe physical pain that is possibly of psychological origin. [1]
Within the ICD-10 classification, psychalgia is another term for Persistent Somatoform Pain Disorder (F45.4)
The principal symptom is of persistent and distressing pain that cannot be accounted for by a physical complaint or physiological disorder. It occurs in relation to psychosocial issues or emotional stress in such a way as to suggest they are causative factors.
Psychogenic pain, and pain associated with an episode of depression or schizophrenia is excluded from this diagnosis.
