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Instead of anti-depressants, cognitive behavioural therapy, relaxation and biofeedback may be helpful in treating patients who have depressive symptoms as well as back pain, according to a researcher at the University of Western Australia.

Associate Professor Markus Melloh, of the UWA-affiliated Western Australian Institute for Medical Research, has found that depression and back pain are part of a vicious cycle which reinforce each other.

He said it was important to avoid starting the cycle by early treatment of depression and by using pain-killers right from the beginning of symptoms.

Associate Professor Melloh will present his research on the reciprocal relationship between depression and back pain next month in Arizona at the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine meeting.

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Media references

Carolyn Monaghan (WAIMR)  (+61 8)  9224 0377
Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 3229  /  (+61 4) 00 700 783