A patient he’d treated for breast cancer pain returned years later with an aching back. She thought that her back pain meant that the cancer had returned and would soon kill her. She wanted opioids. But, in fact, there had been no recurrence. After testing ruled out cancer and Pasternak told her that she had garden variety disc pain, her relief was immediate. She no longer felt the pain to be unbearable and didn’t want any kind of drugs. It was her analysis of what the pain meant that had tormented her. The psychology and the experience of pain are inseparable.
