While examining the relationship between emotions and chronic pain, let’s define what we mean by “emotions” and “chronic pain”.
Over the years I’ve heard of people calling emotions either “negative” or “positive”. When referring to their healing process, I’ve heard some say things like: “I feel like I just need to get this shit out of me.”, referring to thoughts and emotions that they really don’t like. Many of us are looking for either a high (or peak experience) to offset the usual feelings of anger, frustration, resentment, hatred, disgust that we project at others or feel about ourselves.
Nowadays I tend to prefer to think of emotions as being depleting or energizing. It’s not that some emotions are negative. The negativity of it becomes evident when we keep generating certain emotions. It can be draining to do so. It’s more useful to look at emotions as depleting or energizing because it focuses on what matters: our energy.
if you have a pain for more than 3 months, this is considered to be chronic. Chronic pain in society has helped create the opioid epidemic that is running rampant.
You’d think that the relationship between emotions and chronic pain only runs one way; that chronic pain leads to “negative” emotions and decreased mental health. And this is in part true, chronic pain can lead to people feeling less capable, less useful, less productive or just less than. However, emotions are also associated with the creation of chronic pain. Studies have shown that the more emotionally the brain reacts to the initial injury, the more likely it is that pain persists after the injury has healed.
Healing then often involves and requires that we explore and examine the relationship that we have between our emotions and pain (and other symptoms). If the nervous system is stuck in survival mode, chances are that how we hold and express certain emotions is the key to unlocking our capacity to heal.
If it were possible to change and shift how we feel about ourselves, our emotions, our symptoms etc., we could liberate the energy that is needed to shift and heal chronic problems.
In the new year, I will be running a complimentary Zoom class called Shift: New Perspectives, New Horizons. I will be teaching exercises that can help change how you feel inside; how you feel about your emotions, your physical health and your thoughts. If you want to liberate energy from old stagnant patterns, you’ll want to stay tuned for more details coming soon!