How does one determine whether they should just grit out chronic pain or go to physician for a referral to a pain specialist Take into account that most Dr's where I'm from just take your word for things, so if you say you're in pain they'll ask you if it's bad enough to see a specialist. There are no reliable pain scales that can control for pain catastrophising which any GP I've heard of would probably bring out unless they had good reason to suspect they're dealing with a hypochondriac, malingerer or someone that's gonna misuse antiinflammatory medication.

On the topic of malingerer's, it's very interesting that it's considered a psychiatric diagnosis in and of itself. It's like a consolation prize for people who want a mental illness but don't. Basically, if you want to be mentally ill, by definition you are!