Association of Major Depressive Disorder With Altered Functional Brain Response During Anticipation and Processing of Heat Pain

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Abstract
Chronic pain and depression are common and often overlapping syndromes. More than 75% of patients with depression experience chronic or recurring pain.1 Similarly, 30% to 60% of patients with chronic pain report significant depressive symptoms.2 Understanding the neurobiological basis of this relationship is important because the presence of comorbid pain contributes significantly to poorer outcomes and increased cost of treatment in major depressive disorder (MDD).3 However, despite the close relationship between clinical pain and depression, the neural basis of altered pain processing in patients with MDD is poorly understood.