“Is there a connection between mental health and chronic pain?”
I was dealing with chronic pain for a while now, and I've tried several things to get rid of it--changing my diet and exercising, etc. My doctor suggested it could be because of my anxiety, and that I should really start journaling to see if it works with some pain relief. I thought it was ridiculous, at first, but then I tried it and I found that I wasn't dealing with as much pain--and it also cleared my mind a little bit as well. Is there a connection between mental health and chronic pain? And if there is, where does this connection come from?
5 Answers
Certainly related. Pain triggers many emotional disturbances and some people can also imagine pain when there is no underlying findings
Yes, There can be a connection between and emotional problem and chronic pain. I direct you to the books by Dr. John Sarno on the subject of rage and chronic back pain
Anxiety tends to make pain perception worse, and pain causes anxiety, creating a vicious circle. Some people have different thresholds for pain tolerance. There are many new treatments for chronic pain that are not dependent on the use of drugs.
Pain and stress both challenge the body's balance and necessitate decision-making to help adapt. Chronic stress and chronic pain both perpetuate negative memories, and can contribute to maladaption and compromised learning necessary for adaptive decision-making.
Traumatically stressful early life experiences can cause immune disregulation across the lifespan. Psychiatric and medical comorbidities are common with trauma, and with post-traumatic stress disorder, including early onset of age-related conditions such as chronic pain, cardiometabolic disease, neurocognitive disorders, and even dementia. This is often in the
context of sleep disturbance and heightened physiological arousal, oxidative stress, and, inflammation contributing to accelerated cellular aging.
Stress can lower pain thresholds, and, of course, pain is stressful, whether its origin be somatic or emotional. Enlistment of a therapeutic and relational support system can contribute to a more mindful transcendence, and so deploy a more dispassionate observance of circumstance for more adaptive decision-making.
Traumatically stressful early life experiences can cause immune disregulation across the lifespan. Psychiatric and medical comorbidities are common with trauma, and with post-traumatic stress disorder, including early onset of age-related conditions such as chronic pain, cardiometabolic disease, neurocognitive disorders, and even dementia. This is often in the
context of sleep disturbance and heightened physiological arousal, oxidative stress, and, inflammation contributing to accelerated cellular aging.
Stress can lower pain thresholds, and, of course, pain is stressful, whether its origin be somatic or emotional. Enlistment of a therapeutic and relational support system can contribute to a more mindful transcendence, and so deploy a more dispassionate observance of circumstance for more adaptive decision-making.
Depression and anxiety can coexist with chronic pain syndromes. The neurotransmitter in the brain - serotonin - is involved in pain as well as in depression and anxiety.
