Which is Worse Chronic or Acute Pain? Hello, this is James Lowery with James Lowery Hypnotherapy where I, with the help of a medical provider, aid adults suffering with immune disorders in relieving the emotional stress surrounding their discomfort in order to achieve a better quality of life in as little as one session. Today’s frequently asked question is: which is worse, chronic or acute pain? Now, before I answer that question, I want to make it abundantly clear that the information I am presenting is not to serve as a substitute for medical advice. My role as a hypnotherapist is to serve as an effective adjunct to those already receiving medical treatment who might need additional care. Which is worse, chronic or acute pain? In my opinion, chronic pain is worse because, although yes, acute pain is intense, it is considered temporary. What makes chronic pain chronic pain is when that pain persists beyond 3 months.
Now, if there are indications, or it has been proven that there is ongoing physical, structural damage of some kind beyond the 3-month mark, it would make sense that the pain would persist to some degree. But let’s assume that the body has had the appropriate amount of time to heal upon a physical injury or structural causation to the best of its ability, and yet, the pain still persists, even though there is no ongoing structural, physical damage. It is, at that point, that pain may be more appropriately labeled as neuroplastic pain. What allows pain to persist in this way is primarily fear. I use the term fear as an umbrella term to more generally describe maladaptive psycho- emotional responses to pain or discomfort, where one looks at one’s current condition and assumes or fears that it is just as bad, if not worse, than when it first started out. Based on that assumption, that fear, that conclusion, one then concludes that the pain is going to get worse going into the future. These type of fears, these assumptions, these maladaptive psycho-emotional responses to the pain or the discomfort is what really pushes it beyond what is considered to be a tolerable threshold. All these things bring with them emotional stress. When emotional stress is brought on in this way it makes pain more apparent. When pain becomes more apparent, it increases or amplifies. When it increases or amplifies it brings with it further emotional stress, and so forth, and so forth. It becomes a vicious cycle. So, how does one break out of this vicious cycle and remove this type of fear that allows the pain to persist beyond what is considered to be a tolerable threshold?
Through a branch of science known as psychoneuroimmunology which studies how the mind, the psyche, one’s neurology, and one’s nervous and immune systems all interact with and affect one another. At the core of psychoneuroimmunology, and its applications in the form of mind-body therapies such as hypnotherapy, is looking at where attention is placed, the degree to which that attention is gathered and maintained, and the overall emotional quality or flavor of that attention. Mind-body therapies such as hypnotherapy aim to therapeutically affect attention in this way to help people break out of these vicious cycles and reestablish a healthy communication between their mind and their nervous and immune systems. Now, some of you might be thinking, “But James, I’ve tried talk therapies before and it didn’t work for me. How is this different?” Most therapies aim to alter or bolster your conscious perception of the problem. But, let me ask you something. If you could consciously decide right now not to have the pain, the discomfort, the problem you are experiencing, it would only be reasonable to assume that you would consciously decide to do so. Would you not? If you could have consciously decided not to have taken on the pain, the discomfort, the problem, and the maladaptive psycho-emotional responses that surround them at all, again, it would only be fair to say that you would consciously have decided to do so by now. So the pain, the problem and the maladaptive psycho emotional responses that surround them do not effectively exist in the conscious mind. Rather they are most predominant in the unconscious part of the mind.
So if you’re looking to adopt this kind of therapy in such a way that, with the help of a medical provider, aids you in relieving the emotional stress surrounding your discomfort in order to achieve a better quality of life in as little as just one session. Then give me a call or book a free consultation at James Lowery Hypnotherapy. I’m always happy to help.