Behavioral neurobiology of chronic pain

Pain is the most common reason people seek medical help. The treatment of chronic pain is a major unmet clinical need and its impact on health, well-being, society and the economy is immense. Pain is an integrative, whole-systems (patho)physiological phenomenon and behavioural neuroscience plays a key role in advancing our understanding of pain. This volume brings together a series of authoritative chapters written by leading experts in preclinical and clinical aspects of pain neurobiology. Behavioural approaches to the study of persistent or chronic pain in animal models or humans are at the core of the volume, but the anatomical, physiological, neurochemical and molecular mechanisms that underpin behavioural alterations are also emphasized.