Chronic Pain and Mind-Body Disorder

What is chronic pain? In contrast to acute pain which is the body’s normal response to tissue damage or injury, chronic pain is pain that is ongoing and usually lasts longer than six months. This type of pain can continue even after the injury or illness that caused it has healed. Pain signals remain active in the nervous system for weeks, months and sometimes years. Some of the answers for the mechanism of chronic pain are in the interplay of our body and mind.

“Our mind and body are connected,” – not many people would argue with this statement. More than ever, especially in recent decades, we have been moving to more holistic approach to our life and health.

However, we rarely think what does it actually mean “mind-body connection”? It kind of makes sense – our mind can affect our body and vise versa. Although, if we suddenly develop pain in our body, we automatically assume that something is wrong physically, and often any suggestion from other people or even our own thought that maybe our feelings can produce this pain are perceived as dismissing of the reality of our suffering,- “Does it mean it is all in my head?!”

The real answer to this question is, “Everything is in our head.” There is actually no such thing as mind and body – these are just concepts that we use to describe different aspects of human experience. Our thoughts, feelings, and dreams are not just some ephemeral construct – they are results of the function of our brain; they are embodied experiences, part of who we are on the very structural and biological level.

Mounting evidence from research and clinical practice have shown that stress, trauma and repressed emotions are capable of causing persistent real pain and other physical symptoms. This is what we call a Mind-Body Disorder [also called Psychophysiologic Disorder (PPD) or Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS)]. Unfortunately, there is no conclusive diagnostic test for this condition so the single most common question patients have is whether their personal symptoms could be caused by Mind-Body Syndrome.

Usually, the more symptoms you have, the more places in your body they are located, and the more variable they are in severity over time, then the more likely it is that Mind-Body Disorder is a contributing factor.

Conditions that commonly have a significant contribution from PPD include (but are not limited to) those listed below:

Concussion or mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) are usually a result of direct impact to the head.  Effects are usually temporary but can include headaches and problems with concentration, memory, balance and coordination. Less commonly acknowledged are the emotional and psychological effects—including anxiety, depression, and social withdrawal—and the fact that, for some patients, symptoms last a long time.

While recovery is normally be expected in the majority of people following concussion, some continue experiencing persisting somatic, cognitive, emotional, and/or behavioral problems, generally referred to as post-concussion syndrome (PCS).

In our experience, the emotional/psychological impact of concussion is often overlooked and underestimated. Clinicians often continue treating post-concussion symptoms as they are result of organic/bodily pathology, neglecting the psychological aspects. At the same time, concussion is not merely a head injury. As our clients often describe it, concussion has major psychological affect on one’s life. It is a traumatic event that affects the whole person- her/his ability to think, to function at work and in everyday life, relationships, and overall self-perception and worth.

Often, concussion disrupts our life in such a profound way that it brings to the surface past traumas, conflicts, and emotional difficulties that we often thought we have dealt in the past. That is why psychological treatment for post-concussion syndrome need to address person’s emotional health in a holistic approach – taking in account our past, present, and even future.