Pain - particularly chronic pain - and emotions are complex constructs, intrinsi- cally and bidirectionally linked and sharing common biological pathways at the cerebral level, which pain medication modulates. There is also some confusion around the notion of painkillers and psychotropic drugs, since they all act on the nervous system and the latter have been given painkilling properties. The respective impact of pain per se, of some potential comorbid mental health conditions or of analgesic medication adverse effect itself on the emotional life of our patients is often difficult to establish, but the potential negative impact of pain medication should be kept in mind when prescribing. This negative impact should be balanced against the limited overall effectiveness of the drug approach to chronic pain. This statment paper proposes some considerations on these negative impacts of pain medication on mental and emotional well-being, viewed from different angles, and proposes to systematically consider depres- cribing from the perspective of comprehensive care and personalised medicine.