[Use of psychological diagnostic methods in cases of chronic pain].

Problems of patient-physician communication relating to the understanding of verbalized pain sensations are discussed. The author reviews psychological techniques which may be applied for the assessment of pain by the attending physician and facilitate its management. Psychological techniques include MMPI test and also verbal and graphic description of pain, e.g. R. Melzack's MPQ and pain-drawing. Pain-drawing technique is illustrated with two comparative cases of patients with chronic backache.