For the millions of Americans who deal with pain daily — nearly one quarter of adults in the United States struggle with chronic pain — the problem is often far more than physical.
While the physical effects of pain take center stage, the issue can also lead to more behind-the-scenes problems, such as depression, stress, and anxiety. In fact, more than 55% of people with chronic pain experience clinical signs of anxiety and/or depression.
As experts in pain management and chronic pain, the skilled team at Johnston Pain Management recognizes that pain is as much physical as mental and that there’s a good deal of crossover between physical pain and emotional health. Let’s take a look.
Any discussion about pain needs to start with a basic understanding — while pain may develop in a specific area in your body, your brain is the command center. In other words, ALL pain is in your head AND in your body.
From a more scientific standpoint, consider this — pain signaling shares the same neurotransmitters as mood regulation, namely serotonin and norepinephrine. So, on a chemical level, pain and mood regulation are closely linked.
This goes a long way toward explaining why 5% of the US population (about 12 million people) are dealing with both chronic pain and clinically significant symptoms of anxiety and depression.
In addition to the crossover in neurotransmitters, any time you’re in pain, your body enters a state of stress — your sympathetic nervous system initiates a fight-or-flight response.
If your pain is chronic, this stress response digs in, often leading to issues with anxiety as your body struggles to get into a more relaxed, rest-and-digest state in which stress hormones aren’t in charge.
Thanks to the ongoing pain, however, it can be challenging to achieve this de-stressed state, and the stress response becomes your new normal. In turn, this new normal can not only lead to clinical anxiety, but it can also heighten pain perception, creating a vicious circle of mental and physical issues.
Of the millions of Americans who report chronic pain, many report that the pain casts a long shadow over their quality of life. Chronic pain can prevent people from participating in activities they once enjoyed, and many people report feeling isolated because of their pain.
As we’ve been discussing, the discomfort is just one aspect of chronic pain, and the emotional and social impacts can be just as severe.
Playing this out further, if you’re forced to retreat from your life due to chronic pain, the resulting isolation can also contribute to or lead to depression, anxiety, and overall reduced happiness levels.
Our goal in presenting this information is to underscore the importance of getting the right pain management team in your corner.
Our team fully understands the implications of chronic pain, and we’re here to help you break free from the mental and physical hold that chronic pain can have on you. From pain management protocols to treatments for depression and anxiety, we make sure to cover every aspect of chronic pain so that you can move forward with your life.
To learn more about addressing the physical and emotional aspects of chronic pain, we invite you to contact us at one of our conveniently located offices in Jacksonville, Hampstead, or New Bern, North Carolina, to schedule an appointment.
