Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologische Schmerztherapie und -forschung (DGPSF)

“What applies to adults applies even more to children: the care of children and adolescents with pain conditions in Germany is inadequate. Large shortfalls exist in both care and research. Adequate treatment requires more specially trained pain psychotherapists and proven interdisciplinary methods that are so far only being used in a few specialized institutions. Our knowledge is still in its infancy in terms of children’s issues such as pain-related anxiety or dysfunctional coping strategies and parental ones such as detrimental rearing practices or ways of dealing with children’s pain. We need this knowledge in order to develop targeted strategies for the prevention and treatment of pain in children and adolescents. The establishment of the German Paediatric Pain Centre can help us overcome these shortcomings by promoting care networks, training for pediatric psychotherapists and psychological pain research. As president of the German Society for Psychological Pain Therapy and Research, I wholeheartedly support the establishment of the German Paediatric Pain Centre.”

(Prof. Dr. Michael Pfingsten, President of the DGPSF)