EEG-characteristics of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is a challenge for patients, physicians and society due to its high prevalence and its substantial individual and socio-economic burden.

In recent years, innovative EEG-techniques have been used to study rhythmic brain activities in a variety of neuropsychiatric populations and in chronic pain and various abnormalities in neuronal oscillation patterns and connectivity between brain regions have been observed. However, it remains unclear whether these alterations of brain activity in chronic pain patients reflect pain characteristics like intensity, duration or type (e.g. neuropathic pain), or whether they reflect other symptoms associated with chronic pain.

Neuropsychiatric comorbidities and cognitive deficits of chronic pain are being increasingly recognized, as they frequently cause substantial problems in social life and hinder patients from being able to work. However, it has not been studied yet whether neuronal oscillations and connectivity patterns in the brains of chronic pain patients covary with neuropsychiatric comorbidities (e.g. depression, anxiety, fatigue) and cognitive functioning.

To this end, the investigators will obtain resting state EEG data in large cohort of patients with chronic pain and assess clinical characteristics of chronic pain including a variety of neuropsychiatric symptoms as well as working memory capacity as a proxy for cognitive functioning.

Results from this study will offer valuable insights into and a better understanding of brain dysfunction of patients suffering from chronic pain. This can be helpful for diagnostic and therapeutic advances (e.g. brain stimulation and neurofeedback methods) in the near future.