Multiple factors are involved in psychological functioning of the chronic pain patient. Those commonly described in the literature include age and sex of the patient as well as duration of pain. Little is known about the effects of the temporal aspect of pain (e.g., continuous versus intermittent). This study assesses psychological adjustment and perception of pain in two pain problems (trigeminal neuralgia and postherpetic neuralgia). The results of the study indicate that greater psychological dysfunction and disability are associated with the continuous unrelenting pain of postherpetic neuralgia as compared with the sharp intermittent pain of trigeminal neuralgia, independent of overall pain intensity.