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A new study conducted by University of Michigan Health System suggests that depression and chronic pain should be treated separately.

The team led by Daniel J. Clauw used functional imaging of the brain to determine that in patients with the chronic pain syndrome fibromyalgia, their level of depression has little influence on the intensity of pain they experience.

The study involved 33 women and 20 men with fibromyalgia along with 42 healthy companion participants. The testing included a measurement of pain experienced by subjects based on their tolerance of pressure applied to their left thumbnails using a hard rubber probe.

Using functional MRI (fMRI) scans, researchers compared the subjects' magnitude of pain, experimental pain sensitivity and symptoms of depression. It was found that in fibromyalgia patients, much less pressure was required to activate the neurons associated with acute pain in the brain's sensory domain than among the healthy controls.