Brain scans of people in chronic pain reveal constant activity in areas that should normally be at rest. Researchers at Northwestern University suggest such results from a new study could explain why pain patients have higher rates of depression, anxiety and other disorders.

Chronic pain seems to alter the way people process information that is unrelated to pain since enduring it for long periods of time affects brain function in response to even minimally demanding tasks, it was reported in the Journal of Neuroscience.

In healthy people, certain regions of the brain take over during a resting state, something known as a default mode network. When a person performs a task, this network quiets down. That's not apparently the case for people with chronic pain. Findings suggest a chronic pain patient's brain is altered by the persistent pain in a manner reminiscent of other neurological conditions associated with cognitive impairments.

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