It takes consistent practice to change your thoughts and beliefs, but with enough repetition, it can be done! This will free more space for you to recognize your pattern of thinking about your pain. Two twenty minutes sessions each week can release tension and pain. Implement twice weekly relaxation techniques such as progressive relaxation, diaphragmatic breathing or various yoga breathing. Meditation has been shown to improve pain and function.Ħ. Develop a meditation practice or participate in a guided meditation class. “I trust that we’ll find the root cause of this pain eventually” (instead of “Why can’t I ever get to the root cause of this pain?”)ĥ. “I’ll go to that party and will stay as long as I’m enjoying it” (instead of “I don’t think I can go to that party because the pain will flare up too much.”) “My favorite thing that makes me feel carefree is ” (instead of “I don’t know if I’ll ever feel as carefree as I used to.”) For example, the thoughts mentioned at the beginning of this post could be: Actively create more positive thoughts about your pain to replace negative ones. If you’re worried, anxious or depressed, focus on thoughts, people, and places that make you happy.Ĥ. Whenever you notice tightness or tension, relax those areas of the body, and breathe deeply in order to relax completely.ģ. Notice how you feel physically – not just at the site of pain but throughout your body. Begin to notice your thoughts as they come up – simply being aware without judgment. Especially note negative thoughts.Ģ. So as you address the root cause of your pain, I also recommend taking the following steps:ġ. The solution to pain catastrophizing is rooted in cognitive behavioral therapy, and below you’ll find an easy adaptation of this that you can do on your own as an important part of your overall treatment plan. expecting negative outcomes in the future, based on past experiences.ruminating thoughts that make it difficult to shift attention away from the pain.thoughts that magnify the severity of the situation. But first, see if you recognize yourself in some of the thought patterns associated with pain catastrophizing: Wayne Dyer once said, “when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” The Solution Is Just A Thought Awayīelow are some steps you can take immediately. Some people may even feel frustrated or invalidated if they think they’re being told that it’s “all in their head.” But instead, it can be empowering to realize that when you change your thoughts, you can improve the success of your treatment, or even reduce or eliminate your pain without pills or surgery!Īs author, Dr. Pain accounts for 80% of doctor’s office visits and costs about $100 billion per year between healthcare costs and lost productivity! You are not imagining it and its not in your head. There’s no doubt that pain is serious and real. You might say, “yes, but I was injured (or I have herniated discs, etc) so there’s a real, physical cause of my pain!” That’s absolutely true, but it’s still what you think about the injury and pain (now and in the future) that determines the intensity of the pain. These automatic thoughts have the biggest grip on how we feel. Most of our thinking is unconscious, and we have a constant flow of “automatic thoughts” in our minds as we perceive and interpret events and the world around us. Put very simply, how you think determines how you feel. Pain catastrophizing is characterized by feelings of helplessness, rumination and excessive magnification of cognitions and feelings toward a painful situation. Pain catastrophizing is a negative cognitive-affective response to anticipated or actual pain and has been associated with increased pain and poor functional outcomes. One form of those negative beliefs is known as “pain catastrophizing”.
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