[Compliance problems and behavioral medicine implications in the drug therapy of pain].

Many patients, even cancer patients do not take their medication at all or at the prescribed dose showing thus a form of noncompliance. Reasons for this are manyfold and differ from patient to patient. They may undergo dynamic changes in the course of disease. Experience shows, that compliance is mainly improved when patients have the impression to be responsible for their comportment. This is an important goal in therapy of patients with chronic pain. Of particular importance is therefore the doctor-patient relation, i.e. non-compliance thus always indicates a disturbed doctor-patient relation.