By Lenni Ferren, psychotherapist
More than 100 million Americans are affected by chronic pain, which has been identified as a major cause of disability across the United States. One of the approaches currently being used as a tool to help manage chronic pain symptoms is mindfulness meditation.
How Mindfulness Helps With Chronic Pain
Mindfulness meditation can help improve chronic pain by improving emotional and attentional self-regulation. Mindfulness meditation can help reduce pain and the emotional effects of chronic pain by creating functional and structural changes in the brain as neuroplasticity becomes a hot topic in the world of chronic pain management. Through mindfulness meditation, one can use cognitive self-regulation to help modulate pain and emotion. The three components in mindfulness meditation that contribute to pain relief and the emotional experience of pain are improved self-awareness, attention control, and improved emotional regulation.
It is important to point out that mindfulness meditation for chronic pain is an alternative that is available to anyone who is interested in learning. This is very important information to be aware of during this time when opioid addiction has reached a critical level and declared a national crisis. Many therapists are trained in mindfulness and meditation and offer it as a tool to their clients, as well as groups like Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and free apps like Insight Timer.
The Relationship Between Chronic Pain and Catastrophizing, and How Mindfulness Can Help
Mindfulness meditation can be helpful when one is struggling with thoughts of rumination and catastrophizing, which have been found to perpetuate chronic pain symptoms and the distress related to chronic pain. Mindfulness-based practices help people to work with their thoughts and minds more effectively so that those thoughts no longer hold as much power. These practices help those suffering with chronic pain and rumination and catastrophizing to break these harmful thought cycles and let go of these troubling thoughts, so that they can move into a more expansive state of ease and flow and to allow for more psychological flexibility. When the mind becomes more flexible in its thinking and open to possibility, more possibilities are available for one to see!
Catastrophizing is a typical cognitive distortion that has received extensive attention in psychology and chronic pain. This cognitive distortion comprises of two main parts: predicting a negative outcome and making a conclusion, the latter part of catastrophizing is often traumatizing as it makes one develop a serious fear that something disastrous or catastrophic is going to take place. For those struggling with chronic pain, and struggling to find treatments that work, the future can sometimes feel bleak. Meditation practices can help those struggling with chronic pain to feel more empowered in their way of thinking about their lives, their futures, and their condition.
Other Benefits of Meditation
Another benefit to practicing mindfulness and its application to chronic pain is becoming a non-judgmental observer. Mindfulness meditation allows us to become the observer of our thoughts, emotions, and sensations, from a place of non-judgment or non-attachment. By doing this we can observe our experience with a less emotional charge. For many people who suffer from chronic pain, the emotional aspect of pain can perpetuate the pain cycle. Distress causes muscle tension, and muscle tension perpetuates more pain, and more pain adds more distress, and so on.
Mindfulness meditation has found a place in modern medicine, particularly in the management of chronic pain. This non-pharmacological and non-invasive method has been identified as an approach that therapists can use to help their clients manage chronic pain, including alleviating the level of pain that they often experience. The available body of literature on mindfulness meditation and chronic pain, which is primarily attributed to the work of Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, has demonstrated that mindfulness meditation can help reduce the detrimental effects associated with rumination and catastrophizing. This means that people who suffer from chronic pain who struggle with these issues can be helped through this approach. Based on the available body of knowledge, it is evident that mindfulness meditation programs such as MBSR make up some of the important interventions that are effective in the management of chronic pain. Some breathing techniques used to stimulate the vagus nerve can also be considered mindfulness meditation techniques, such as pranayama breathing and diaphragmatic breathing. Under the umbrella of mindfulness meditation, there is something for everyone. I have even found guided meditations for those times when you don’t feel like meditating alone. Mindfulness meditation has changed my life and my relationship with pain and difficult emotions.
Mindfulness Meditation Apps
Insight timer- Cost: Free*
10% Happier- Cost: Free-$99.99 per year
Headspace- Cost: Free-$19.99 per mo.
Meditation Studio- Cost: Free-$49.99 per year
Calm- Cost: Free- $70 per year
Simply Being- Cost: Free- $30 per year
Inscape- Cost: Free-$58.99 per year
If you are interested in exploring mindfulness meditation on its own or as support on your journey to heal chronic pain, reach out to us at Evolve in Nature by clicking here.