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Background In addition to pain as a warning signal, it can also have a stabilizing function. This is the case when a mental disorder destabilizes the affected person both psychologically and socially. The aim of this review is to present pain as a coping mechanism. Method This narrative review presents patterns of mental disorders that come under consideration in this context. Results Clinical characteristics ranging from normal baseline values, to occupational injury cases, up to conversion disorders and psychoses (depression, schizophrenia) are presented. Conclusion Mental disorders can make the overall clinical picture unclear in terms of its assignability. The role of the psyche in the overall clinical picture is beginning to be recognized by the medical profession for its conspicuous features and be included, as far as possible, in treatment planning from the beginning. Psychiatry is not the rest; psychiatry is, however, worth only as much as a non-psychiatrist can apply it. The descriptions of the clinical pictures presented in the overview serve as a first orientation for the physician whose mindscape and treatment field is manual therapy.