I have to admit: When it comes to pain, I'm a total wimp. The few times I've approached anything near chronic pain was in my neck - the result from unilateral breathing as a lap swimmer. When I had the pain, I was obsessed with it, and it was a complete drag on my psyche. My painful experience gave me deep empathy for anyone who lives with chronic pain.
Beth Darnall, PhD, is a clinical associate professor at the medical school and a clinical psychologist at Stanford’s Pain Management Center. She has practiced this unique specialty - pain psychology - for the past 10 years, working with chronic pain sufferers to find alternative means to controlling their pain rather than being stuck in a downward spiral of opioid use. And she’s written a new book, Less Pain, Fewer Pills, where she details a methodical approach that enables one to get their “head” out from their pain.
Clearly it's not all attitude, but a significant portion of pain is how we think about it and catastrophize it and therefore unknowingly give it strength. She told me in this 1:2:1 podcast that “early life trauma can lead to changes in the central nervous system and immune systems… that could prime someone to experience chronic pain later on." She also said:
We have just pure genetics, an underlying predisposition to acquire chronic pain… But we also know that a person’s psychological makeup, what the person brings to the table, is a big predictor in terms of whether or not their pain resolves or whether it becomes entrenched.
I asked Darnall whether her role as a clinical psychologist helps patients rethink their pain. She told me, "A key message that I bring forward to the table is that pain isn’t something that just happens to us. Once we acquire chronic pain we are constantly participating with our pain in terms of our thoughts, our beliefs, our emotions, and our choices. If we can focus on that and optimize our control there, then we can set ourselves up to have the best response to all of the treatments that our doctors are going to be trying for us."
If you suffer from chronic pain or know someone who does, I hope you’ll find this conversation with Darnall of value.
Previously: Stanford researchers address the complexities of chronic pain, Exploring the mystery of pain, Relieving Pain in America: A new report from the Institute of Medicine, Stanford’s Sean Mackey discusses recent advances in pain research and treatment and Oh what a pain
