Psychological factors key in tackling children’s unexplained pain

Educating parents is the key to tackling medically unexplained pain in children and adolescents, and parents are often “fixed in a cycle of demanding more tests”, a senior clinical psychologist at Crumlin Children’s Hospital has said.

It is estimated that one in five GP visits by children and adolescents involve complaints with a “psychological element”, including stomach pain and headaches with no diagnosable medical cause, as well as more severe and debilitating chronic conditions.

Vincent McDarby of Crumlin Children’s Hospital is a member of the Psychological Society of Ireland and heads up an international conference on chronic pain and medically unexplained symptoms in children taking place in Dublin today.