How Mindfulness Can Help In The Treatment of Chronic Pain

If you, a friend or family member are struggling to deal with the symptoms or the physical and emotional impact of chronic pain, whether that be from accident, injury, medical conditions such as Arthritis, endometriosis, cancer etc. or functional conditions such as ME, Migraine or Fibromyalgia, then understanding more about how mindfulness as part of a treatment plan for Chronic Pain Management, can have a positive impact on the frequency and severity of symptoms, as well as improving someone’s quality of life, will hopefully bring some understanding and optimism to your situation.

Chronic Pain Statistics

With statistics from a recent survey showing estimates of 43% (28 million people) in the UK reportedly suffering from chronic pain, there is no doubt that this is a condition impacting the lives of many, both directly or indirectly.

Worldwide estimated figures vary to between 10 and 25% of the population experiencing some level of chronic pain.

Current Treatment Protocols For Chronic Pain Management

Despite those figures, effective pain management treatments are still largely limited to medical intervention and pain medication, with effective Pain Management Programmes being Few and Far between. Yet research has shown that many pain medications are not effective treatments for chronic pain. Opioids for example, when used for chronic pain can actually exacerbate the problem, through increasing the number of pain receptors, rather than providing relief or a long-term solution.

However the good news is, there is now an increased awareness, through scientific studies, on the effectiveness of working with the mind as being an effective way to not only reduce symptoms, but to improve the quality of the pain sufferer’s life.

CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), hypnosis, ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy) and mindfulness have all been well documented for the benefits they can bring the chronic pain sufferer both physically and emotionally. In time these methods can not only change the brain’s response to the pain “Trigger”, through decoupling the link between sensation and our brain’s interpretation of it, they can improve the relationship the client has with their pain and their body.

The Brain and Chronic Pain

The key fact about chronic pain is that it is made in the brain, not in the part of the body that hurts. Yes really! Put rather simply, pain is a perception, it is a group effort from various regions of the brain, including those related to emotion, that together come up with what the brain considers a reasonable response to the stimulus in the area of your body where you feel the pain.

The more defensive or stressed the brain, the more intense or widespread the pain. This is why trauma can lead to chronic pain conditions such as Fibromyalgia.

Unfortunately, the impact of living with chronic pain often traps the sufferer in a catch 22 situation: Chronic pain increases stress, anxiety and depression, yet it is the states of stress, anxiety and depression that cause an increase in pain.

Learning to break these cycles that have become habitual and subconscious, through decoupling and desensitising the links between cause and effect, while increasing states of calmness, confidence and self-compassion, will go a long way to unwinding the matrix that is the experience of pain.

Mindfulness As An Effective Evidence-Based Psychological Treatment For Chronic Pain:

Effective pain management programmes, should not just be about reducing symptoms, they are about changing the relationship the client has with their pain and improving the ability of the client to engage in purposeful and pleasurable activities in their life.

Learning to be more mindful (informal mindfulness) and the practice of mindful meditation (formal mindfulness) both have their roles in reducing pain, decoupling the pain triggers and how “bothersome” the pain is. Bothersome is a term used to assess the impact the pain has on all areas of someone’s life, rather than just the intensity or frequency of the pain.

Practicing formal mindfulness can not only help calm the pain response at the time of practice, evidence has shown that when mindful meditation is practiced regularly over a period of some weeks, structural changes occur in the brain. These changes enable the brain to respond in a less reactive way, not just to the pain stimulus, but to everyday situations that in the past have been experienced as stress or anxiety forming. As mentioned earlier, it is often stress and anxiety that at the root of chronic pain.

Informal mindfulness however can play an even greater role:

  • Increasing self-awareness and acceptance, both essential to the decoupling process, breaking habitual cycles.
  • Lessening fear and judgement.
  • Increasing focus on more comfortable and pleasurable experiences.
  • Harnessing self-mastery, the ability to feel back in control of your body, mind and life and the way that they function.
  • Experiencing situations through an awareness in the present moment, rather than ruminating or worrying about what might happen.

Mindfulness is also an intrinsic part of ACT – Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, also a psychological therapy proven to help in the relief and recovery of chronic pain. ACT aids the client in developing a nurturing an accepting, compassionate and more comfortable relationship with their symptoms and the situations they experience, helping them relate to what is happening from a present moment perspective, rather than going into the realms of rumination and catastrophising.

Conclusion – Mindfulness and Other Psychological Therapies Offer Many Benefits in the Treatment of Chronic Pain.

In summary; The science is there, engaging in a programme of mind-based therapy that includes effective, evidence-based psychological treatments, either alongside medication or instead of it, can bring immense and varied benefits to anyone wanting to recover or lessen chronic pain.

Over the past 15 years I have studied and explored the evidence and most importantly, the practice of managing pain and improving the quality of lives through mind-based therapies, including mindfulness.

It was actually the effective use of these methods for my own issues with chronic pain, illness and anxiety, that literally changed my life and put me on this journey of helping others do the same!

I can attribute the immense changes I have been able to make over the past 15 years, to all I have learnt and continue to learn as a counsellor, coach, hypnotherapist and mindfulness teacher. My own experiences and those of my clients, have led me to develop the Healthful Mind Programme and opening the Healthful Mind Clinic, a centre dedicated to providing effective, evidence-based treatment for both psychological and functional health issues.

Help Available

If you would like to know more about how mindfulness and the other psychological therapies that are within the Healthful Mind Programme, and how together they can help with chronic pain, chronic illness, anxiety and stress, freeing you to live a healthier and happier life, then I (Alexa Warner) offer a free consultation either online or in our Dorset based Clinic. Please contact me HERE.

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