What, on Earth, does Psychology have to do with Pain?

The theme of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) psychology week this year is pain. Some of you might be thinking, “What, on Earth, does psychology have to do with pain?”. Good question. As it turns out, quite a lot!

All of us have experienced pain at some point in our lives. We have all probably stubbed our toe, had a paper cut, burnt ourselves or maybe even broken a bone or two. When these things happen to us, we experience acute pain and it is really important that we do. Pain, in these circumstances, is our brain’s signal to our body that we have caused ourselves tissue damage and that we should take action to stop the tissue damage from continuing.

However, from over 30 years of scientific research, we now know that, if we experience pain for an extended period of time, say for three months or more, things tend to become a whole lot more complicated. That pain signal is no longer just warning us about tissue damage, it is communicating a whole range of other information, including information about our psychological state.

We now recognise that there are a range of psychological factors that can turn the pain signal up or down for people experiencing chronic pain. According to the researcher, Howard Fields (2009), there are three psychological factors that influence how intensely we experience pain. They are; our expectations about pain, our interpretation of pain and our mood. In fact, research has shown that there is a bi-directional interaction between the parts of the brain that are involved in controlling our mood and the parts of the brain that perceive pain. That is, not only does being in pain put us in a bad mood, but being in a bad mood can also amplify our experience of pain (Fields, 2009).

Despite all of this knowledge we now have, there remains a general lack of understanding about the role that psychology plays in chronic pain. This is problematic for someone who has pain and is sent to a psychologist. They understandably get the impression that they are being told “the pain is all in your head”. This can be really demoralising for people who already feel unbelieved. According to Pain Australia (2020), people with chronic pain tend to feel misunderstood, stigmatised, discriminated against and not taken seriously by health professionals. Psychologists who work with people with chronic pain are often trying to make sure they give their clients the very clear message that they know their pain is real. Whilst, simultaneously balancing this with providing education about how our psychological states affect the intensity of pain.

It is wonderful to see the APS proactively spreading the message about the role of psychology in treating pain. The more we can increase everyone’s understanding of how psychologists can help people with chronic pain, the better the help we can get to people who so desperately need it.

If you know someone who needs help managing their chronic pain, please get in touch with us today.

References

Fields, H. (2009). The Psychology. Scientific American Mind, September / October 2009, 42 – 49.

Pain Australia (2020). Accessed 8 November 2020, http://www.painaustralia.org.au.