Treating Chronic Pain in Sickle Cell Disease — The Need for a Biopsychosocial Model

Chronic pain is a common problem for adults with sickle cell disease, but clinicians often struggle to manage it effectively. The medical community may be looking at sickle cell pain in the wrong way, focusing on the hematologic aspects and overlooking the neurologic, psychological, and social dimensions of chronic pain. To address sickle cell pain more effectively, the biopsychosocial model should be used, which recognizes that biologic, neuropsychological, and socioenvironmental factors all play a role in pain-related processes. The primary model used in clinical practice is still acute vaso-occlusive events causing tissue inflammation and nociceptive pain.