疼痛有急慢性之别。心理疗法的主要对象是慢性疼痛。慢性疼痛有慢性关节风湿病那样的器质性病变所致的疼痛,也有因发怒等心理机制所致的心理性疼痛。但慢性器质性疾患所致的疼痛亦可因身体和心理压力因素所致,心理压力能使疼痛加重。疼痛虽是主观知觉症状,但加上心理因素,可表现为一总和疼痛。在心理因素当中也包含了一些与疼痛无关的附加心理。附加心理因素可以是患者不能处理 Pain is acute or chronic. The main target of psychotherapy is chronic pain. Chronic pain has the pain caused by organic diseases like chronic rheumatoid arthritis, and the psychological pain caused by the psychological mechanism such as anger. However, the pain caused by chronic organic diseases can also be due to physical and psychological stress factors, psychological stress can make the pain worse. Although pain is a subjective perception of symptoms, but with psychological factors, can be expressed as a total pain. Psychological factors also include some additional psychological unrelated to the pain. Additional psychological factors can be patients can not handle