The Role of Psychotherapy in Reducing Pain and Suffering

Do you have chronic pain? If you answered yes, then you most likely suffer from periods of depression, anxiety, and feelings of hopelessness because pain has sensory, emotional, AND cognitive components. So, what does this all mean? It means that the chronic pain you are feeling is very real. It also means that you can decrease your pain without the use of medication or narcotics.

Understanding how pain is processed in the body can help us understand how pain can become chronic, and how psychotherapy can help reduce pain levels. Our body is designed to signal us when we are in danger, and experiencing acute pain serves as a way of protecting the body. Even though this signaling happens in an instant, it is a very complex process that involves many areas of the brain that include the somatosensory cortex (where we feel physical pain), the limbic system (where thoughts form), the hippocampus (where memories are formed), and the amygdala (where fear occurs).

This complex messaging system can become confused causing certain nerves (called somatosensory or SS nerves) to become hypersensitive and fire when they shouldn’t. This misfiring of the nerves results in chronic pain. This type of pain is called central sensitization pain, or CSP. Examples of conditions linked to CSP include, but are not limited to fibromyalgia, chronic headaches and migraines, TMJ, and IBS. CSP is a result of changed or altered nerve pathways caused by some outside factor such as trauma, prolonged exposure to pain, prolonged exposure to opioids, or other environmental triggers. With CSP pain, the SS nerves can be activated from other areas of the brain. Engaging in psychotherapy allows one to address the emotional, cognitive, and fear components to pain, which decreases the impact that pain has on these highly sensitive nerves.

You might be wondering if psychotherapy can help other types of chronic pain that are caused by damaged nerves or inflammation of the nerves, and the short answer is yes. The long answer is that other types of chronic pain almost always have a CSP component to them, thus individuals suffering from all types of chronic pain can receive some level of benefit from participating in psychotherapy.

How exactly does psychotherapy calm these over triggered or altered pain pathways in the brain? Our brains are neuroplastic, meaning that we can form new and healthy pathways in the brain. Psychotherapy can help calm your reactivity to pain by learning to identify unhealthy thoughts, emotions and behaviors in response to perceived pain. Once the unhealthy responses are identified, your therapist will work with you to implement healthy thoughts, emotions and behaviors, which disrupts the pathways that are contributing to CSP. Not only will you experience a decrease in your pain, but you will also experience a positive shift in your relationships and social interactions. It takes commitment, patience, and repetition to develop new pathways, but the rewards of psychotherapy are worthwhile!