Positive emotions can directly affect how we perceive pain
Back pain is a common issue affecting millions of people daily, significantly impacting quality of life and productivity. One of the primary culprits behind chronic back pain is poor posture, particularly during prolonged sitting. At University Pain and Spine Center, we emphasize the importance of correct sitting habits and posture to help prevent and manage back pain effectively.
Are You Living with Chronic Pain?
If you have been experiencing pain for (at least) the last three months, you may say it has become chronic. For many, it begins after a physical injury due to the brain’s continued sensitization, meaning that even though the tissue may have healed, the brain has learned to amplify bodily sensations and interpret them as painful. In other cases, chronic pain is the result of a condition, which may include:
- Osteoarthritis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Migraine headaches
- Complex regional pain syndrome
- Diabetes
- Shingles
How It Feels
Symptoms vary from one person to the next, but most of them share the following:
- Aching
- Burning
- Shooting
- Squeezing
- Stiffness
- Stinging
- Throbbing
Unfortunately, the result can be a derived set of symptoms at the emotional level, including:
- Generalized anxiety disorder.
- Major depressive disorder.
- Fatigue, or feeling overly tired most of the time.
- Insomnia, or trouble falling asleep.
- Irritability or mood swings.
Unlike acute pain, where the body sends as a warning signal, chronic pain becomes a problem in itself, which requires specific management approaches.
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Medical Approaches to Managing Chronic Pain
When facing patients with chronic pain symptoms, healthcare providers may recommend one approach or a combination of techniques. The most important thing to do first is to find the underlying root cause of the problem (although in some cases that might be hard to do, so doctor and patient agree to treat the symptoms) in order to understand what the best course of action is. Once that is clear, the provider may recommend:
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- Lifestyle changes. Oftentimes, chronic pain is linked to bad habits, which can be reversed.
- Physical therapy
- Occupational therapy
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- Complementary medicine therapies: massages, acupuncture, meditation, etc.
- Medical procedures and devices, like surgery, steroid injections and nerve blocks.
- Medications, like NSAIDs, muscle relaxers and opioids.
- Clinical trials
Ultimately, the approach can be adjusted depending on how well the patient responds to it. Beyond these approaches, emerging research suggests that harnessing the power of positive emotions may significantly enhance pain management outcomes.
What Is Positive (and Negative) Affect?
The term “affect” refers to emotion and expression, especially how it can impact a person’s decision-making process. Positive affect (PA), therefore, points to positive emotions and expression, which includes cheerfulness, energy, joy. On the other hand, Negative affect (NA) relates to sadness, disgust, lethargy, fear, and distress.
While you might think that one excludes the other, in general it is possible to experience a range of emotions at the same time. However, positive emotions might result in a better outcome when faced with a negative situation.
Positive affect in the Face of Chronic Pain
Pain is an aversive state. Anxiety, danger, and other negative responses to pain serve a protective function which, when prolonged, can affect behavior in a way that may lead to depression and other mood disorders that amplify the physical pain.
Data shows that when chronic pain patients undergo psychosocial treatments that successfully reduce NA, pain-related outcomes can improve.
Studies have proven that people who maintain higher levels of PA tend to:
- Report lower pain levels.
- Experience less negative emotion when pain increases.
- Stay more physically active despite the pain.
- Maintain improved social relationships.
- Develop greater confidence in their ability to manage pain.
How PA Works
Positive emotions work through brain pathways that effectively reduce pain signals. When attention is broadened—i.e., brain attention shifts from the negative emotion—, people notice good things despite pain.
In this context, it is important to note that social factors play a role in PA, as it is an antecedent of positive social engagement among patients. In a study carried out by Smith and Zautra, those who report more PA report a greater number of social interactions, and another study by Taylor et al. suggests that patients who have positive interaction with their partner exhibit more adaptive pain-related changes in PA.
In conclusion, positive emotions are deeply intertwined with patients’ social connections, strengthened through supportive relationships, and enhanced when they successfully work through stressful life events. In turn, these emotional experiences can reduce pain perception and help protect people from becoming disabled by their chronic pain.
As a result, specialists and patients are encouraged to develop interventions that specifically target positive affect, which should be deployed in the course of treatment from chronic pain.
Need Help Managing Chronic Pain?
Our pain management experts at University Pain and Spine Center, with offices located in Somerset, Monroe, Ewing, Englewood Cliffs, Jersey City, Hoboken, Bloomfield, Freehold, Clark, and Elizabeth, New Jersey; and Bayridge, Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, and Hempstead, New York, are committed to helping patients find relief and regain control of their everyday lives. To start your journey toward pain relief, call (732) 873-6868 or book an appointment online.