Dealing with Chronic Pain

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Social dynamics and relationships impact chronic pain symptoms—pain is more than biology.

Chronic pain violates social expectations that pain will end—and some words can reinforce the stigma.

Try "Take care of yourself" or "I'm thinking about you" or other phrases that don't assume a quick recovery.

You probably know someone who lives with chronic pain, and you’d love for them to get better as soon as possible. It’s agonizing to see a loved one suffer. If you’re the pain sufferer, you know how horrific it is to live in a body that produces non-stop pain, day after day. Holding the wish for recovery while accepting the presence of ongoing pain is a challenging task, particularly in the social, relational world.

Societal Expectations Versus the Reality of Chronic Pain

Chronic pain violates what society teaches us about pain—that it should only be acute; it should be solved somehow, at some point. It should not drag on, day after day. If it does, well—there might be something wrong with you. Yet, persistent pain is a sad reality for 1.5 billion people worldwide—1.5 billion people who are worthy of love and understanding.

I’ve taken a close look at chronic pain through lived experience, pain research, clinical practice as a psychologist, and by putting everything I’ve learned on paper in my new book, Train Your Brain to Beat Chronic Pain. Looking back, the social challenges around pain have been difficult. Well-intended comments can be paradoxically upsetting, and that small-but-significant piece of the pain experience is something I want to highlight.

Personal Story: Early Medical........

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