Last week[1], we reported on ways to help or relieve chronic pain by treating the part of the body that hurts. This week, we’ll discuss some effective things you can do to treat pain with your mind.
Remember that all sensations, whatever their cause, are felt and interpreted in the brain. Feelings, thoughts, and other sensations get mixed with the pain signals and determine how much you hurt.
In wartime, soldiers’ wounds are often less painful than the same wounds would be in a civilian. Why? Because the wounds signify that the wounded soldier will soon be going home, but the civilian’s injury is a source of fear and anxiety. This is known as the “Anzio effect,”[2] after the battle of Anzio, where it was first noted.
When pain is a source of fear, anger, or grief, it usually hurts more. Cancer patients may experience worse pain, because they fear it means their disease is worsening or that they may be dying. How we think about our pain has a major effect on how bad the pain feels. So what can we do about it?
Mental Pain Relief
Distraction—A reader called Whatnext wrote: “Basically: if you can’t do anything about the pain, what you can do is change the way you think about it. In my case, I have decided not to think about it, as much as possible. I realized, for example, that when you’re doing something like reading an interesting book, or walking and talking with a friend, you were not consciously feeling pain.”
And Jeanne in Reno, who has terrible neuropathy[3], wrote “I keep my mind busy with genealogy during the day. I play sudoku and crosswords at night until I can fall asleep.”
This technique is called distraction. The Chronic Disease Self-Management Program[4] developed at Stanford teaches several distraction methods—for example, counting backward by sevens, focusing on sensations in other parts of your body, listening to music, or trying to think of one fruit (or insect, or state, or whatever) that starts with each letter of the alphabet. Calgary Diabetic wrote that this program has been very helpful.
Laughter—Studies consistently show that laughter[5] is an extremely powerful pain reliever.
Thought-changing—thoughts can make pain worse or better. We want to change unrealistically negative thoughts to more realistic, more balanced ones. For example, “I can’t stand this,” is a thought that will make things harder. Perhaps you change that thought to something a little less stressful and more accurate, like “This is really hard for me.”
A thought like “I’ll never be able to work again with this pain” is in itself painful. But is it accurate? How do you know the future? Can you change to a better thought like, “I have a long way to go before I can work again?”
Guided Imagery—Imagery[6] is a powerful self-healing practice. Here are two simple processes you could try. For both of them, you have to get very relaxed, perhaps with a relaxation tape, prayer[7], or progressive muscle relaxation[8].
1. Glove anesthesia[9]—Close your eyes and imagine that you have a large bowl or paint can full of a glowing liquid. This liquid is anesthetic—it numbs everything it touches. You dip your hand in the numbing liquid. Imagine the hand becoming numb. Give it time. Then rub your hand over the area that hurts. If the pain is in a place that’s hard to reach, just imagine that you, or someone else, is applying the medicine to the area.
Do it once, twice, three times, and see how it feels. Give the medicine a chance to sink in. Keep breathing comfortably, and keep relaxing. Then do it again. You can’t overdose!
2. Talking with your pain[10]—In your mind, go to a comfortable, safe, beautiful place. Imagine what you see, hear, smell, and feel in this place. Then allow an image to come that represents your pain. The image can come in any form. If it’s too scary, tell it to go away and send someone else.
When you can sense the image in some way, thank it for coming. Observe it and get to know it. What does it want from you? What does it need? What can you do to get some relief from the pain? Talk with the image until you get something you can use in your life. Perhaps make an arrangement to meet again. Then thank the image and let it go.
You will probably learn some strategies that will help. But there is much more you can do for chronic pain, including medications and pain programs, as we’ll get to next week.
Have any readers tried mental techniques like these? How have they worked for you? Have you learned from others who have written in? If you try the guided imagery, let us know how it goes. I really thank everyone who has written in about their pain experiences. You can see more about imagery and self-care at my Web site, www.davidsperorn.com[11].
Source URL: https://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/blog/mind-over-pain/
David Spero: David Spero has been a nurse for 40 years and has lived with multiple sclerosis for 30 years. He is the author of four books: The Art of Getting Well: Maximizing Health When You Have a Chronic Illness (Hunter House 2002), Diabetes: Sugar-coated Crisis — Who Gets It, Who Profits, and How to Stop It (New Society 2006, Diabetes Heroes (Jim Healthy 2014), and The Inn by the Healing Path: Stories on the road to wellness (Smashwords 2015.) He writes for Diabetes Self-Management and Pain-Free Living (formerly Arthritis Self-Management) magazines. His website is www.davidsperorn.com. His blog is TheInnbytheHealingPath.com.
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