Chronic pain is a condition of uncertainty.
Where did this pain come from?
What is wrong with my body?
In this paper titled, “Are People with Chronic Pain Overthinking the Meaning of Their Pain?” the authors present the existence of significant correlation between overthinking and chronic pain.
Too often chronic pain drags people into a state of constantly searching for answers. Desperately searching online and consulting various healthcare providers for every possible cause, so they can finally be fixed.
They become a detective to find the exact pain source and hyper-analyze what could be making them feel worse and what they can do to feel better.
With that mindset of gaining some sense of control over their pain, they constantly try to predict the future, “If ABC happens, I will feel better, if XYZ happens, I may feel worse.”
But what if the persistent pain cannot be figured out? Then our attempts to find answers have not only been futile but have added fuel to the flame. The more desperately one searches for a “fix”, the more they are telling their nervous system, “I am broken”
The brain interprets the desperate search for answers to the cause of pain as a sign of danger or a threat to survival. This constant problem-solving, inevitably keeps the nervous system in fear and in protection mode.
This frantic search for a “cause and a fix” ends up unintentionally enhancing the pain experience as it strengths the threat signals from the brain to the body. The irony is that the desperation of trying to escape pain, directs the brain have the pain persist or even become louder.
The nervous system will never allow a person to eradicate a pain it deems necessary for its survival. So, what is the antidote? It is certainly not giving up. Not at all! But one solution is to stop trying to outthink pain.
Please view a new pain presentation I’ve created. If you would like the actual pdf PowerPoint slides, as an APTEI Report subscriber you have full access to it at https://www.aptei.ca/video-library/
Feel free to use it as a tool for patient education.