Thoughts and Pain

Psychologists who study pain have found that living with chronic pain can change the way you think about yourself and the world around you. Your thoughts may begin to focus more on your worries and on the difficulties you’re facing. You may begin to spend time thinking:

“I can’t cope with this pain”
“I’m a burden”
“I’m embarrassing myself”
“The future looks bleak”

These changes to your thoughts can have a negative impact on your mood. You may become anxious or depressed. These emotions can actually make your pain feel worse. So it’s important that you begin to notice your thoughts and understand how they may be affecting your pain.

Managing your thoughts can be tricky, so have a look at the Manage section of this topic for some helpful tips.

Related Resources

What is Chronic Pain?
We all have a pain system that’s designed to protect us. Think of it like an alarm system that’s looking out for anything that might cause us harm or damage. Our pain system is made up of nerves that carry messages between the body and the brain. Not all pain is the same, however. Pain can be acute or chronic.
Pain Does Not Equal Damage
Pain is a normal part of life and doesn’t always mean that something is wrong. Think of pain as an alarm system inside you, looking out for any danger that might cause you harm. Sometimes this alarm system can react in a way that’s not proportionate to the danger it detects.

A Different Approach to Managing Pain
Chronic pain can affect people in different ways. Whatever the reason for your chronic pain, the approaches for managing the pain will be similar. This is because pain management is not about getting rid of your pain; it’s about helping you have a good quality of life despite the pain.
Coping with Changes
We all experience changes in our lives. Learn about how change can affect our wellbeing.

The Wellbeing Lothian website has been developed to provide information, self-help resources and links to help you manage your mental health and wellbeing.

We want to help you make changes in your own lives and point you in a direction to start doing so. This is Wellbeing Lothian’s aim.

Learn More about Wellbeing Lothian

This website is not intended in any way to replace the advice of a clinician. Specific advice should be sought in specific situations from a properly qualified health worker.

CONTACT US

If you have any questions about our website or are having difficulty finding something in particular, please fill in a few details below and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

OUR PARTNERS

Edinburgh Health & Social Care Partnership
Midlothian Health & Social Care Partnership
East Lothian Health & Social Care Partnership
West Lothian Health & Social Care Partnership

SHARE THIS PAGE