The Role of Stress in Chronic Pain Management
When most people think of stress they usually view it as a problem. What they often don’t realize is that there are positive aspects to stress as well. We need a certain amount of stress to motivate us and help us deal with life on life’s terms. This kind of stress can also increase our energy and when we need it, fuels the fight, flight, or freeze reaction. I want to talk about a different kind of stress – the kind that occurs with someone who lives with chronic pain. This stress will intensify their experience of pain and can be perceived as suffering. When this person also has a prescription drug addiction - the problem is even worse.
The stress response is a combination of biological psychological and behavioral components. Because stress can be an amplifier for chronic pain, it is important to understand the connection between stress levels and pain symptoms. The goal here is to see that good stress management can decrease pain and suffering.
Physically, chronic pain increases stress levels and drains physical energy. Psychologically, it affects the ability to think clearly, logically and rationally, as well as how effectively you are managing your emotions. If you can learn to lower your stress levels, you will also experience a decrease in your perception of pain or suffering.
Before you can learn how to manage your stress, you need to be familiar with ways to assess your level of stress. It is important to learn how to accurately self-assess your levels of stress and to implement some simple but effective stress management tools. I like to use a ten level stress thermometer concept developed by Terence T. Gorski to teach people how to identify their own level of stress. When you experience upper moderate to severe levels of stress (6-10 range) your thinking, emotions and behavior become problematic.
To learn more about the role of stress in chronic pain management and see a copy of Mr. Gorski’s Stress Thermometer you can read my article The Sress-Pain Connection that you can download for free on our Ariticles page.
If you want to learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System please check out our website at www.addiction-free.com. To learn more about how to develop an effective chronic pain management plan please go to our Publications page and check out my book Managing Pain and Coexisting Disorders: Using the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System. To look for my upcoming trainings please go to our Calendar page.
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