Have Chronic Pain? Changing Your Belief About It Can Make You Feel Better

October 4, 2023

(Big Think) – Patients suffering from chronic pain often hold the belief that their pain is due to tissue damage from a bulging disc, osteoarthritis, or some other ailment. In many cases, however, this is not the cause of the symptoms. Instead, the pain is driven primarily by neuroplastic processes in the brain and peripheral nerves. Furthermore, the false belief can actually exacerbate the pain by leading to fear avoidance behavior, whereby the patient avoids physical activity that they think will worsen the pain or cause re-injury.

New research published in the journal JAMA Open Network now shows that a psychological treatment that helps patients reattribute their pain to reversible neural pathways can significantly reduce the intensity of the pain they feel. (Read More)