Another Tool for Managing Pain: YOUR MIND!

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Here’s something old and new that I’ve posted to the Face Pain Network as well as here at livingwithTN.org:

A Tool for Managing Pain: YOUR MIND!

I have long been a student of the research fields applicable in facial pain. The following link tends to confirm in a major and scientifically valid way, something that I’ve known and that many people in pain know from experience: what you think and how you think can influence how you experience pain.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12480310


This article should NOT NOT NOT be read to suggest that “your pain is all in your head” or it’s your fault. But it may suggest that an attitude of flexible anticipation or expectation of good can be very constructive as one of the tools in your toolbox for coping. The general direction of the article is also confirmed in sources such as Dr. Bernie Siegel’s “Love, Medicine, and Miracles.” Medically supervised techniques such as creative visualization, biofeedback, and meditation have been shown conclusively to have a positive effect on outcomes for Stage III cancer treatment. IF they help in cancer, then why not for pain?


My two Red Cents for the day…

Regards all…

Red

R.A. "Red" Lawhern, Ph.D.
http://www.lawhern.org
"Giving Something Back"
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"I'm addicted to placebos. I'd give them up, but it wouldn't make any difference." ~ Steven Wright

I chuckled at the BBC News article, Red.

"The study was conducted on healthy people who were subjected to pain for a short period of time. She said people with chronic conditions who had unsuccessfully tried many drugs for many years would have built up a much greater negative experience, which could impact on their future healthcare."

However, the first 2 words in the article summed it up for me - 'Negative experiences'. The last 6 words - 'which don't take into account expectation'...expectation may be replaced with, say Gratitude, Hope, or Faith.

Most any tool in the toolbox! My two Cents were minted in 1943;) bob