The classification of back pain patients: functional versus organic.

Substantial numbers of patients suffer from chronic back pain without demonstrating identifiable organic pathology of the spine. Since standardized methods of assessing psychological disturbances (e.g. MMPI) in such patients often provoke hostility and resentment, a questionnaire (BPCS) was developed which employs verbal descriptors of pain in the evaluation of emotional problems. Although the initial findings were very promising our investigations question the psychometric properties of the BPCS.