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Important to Know: How Chronic Pain Affects Mental Health
03.01.2024 22:00
Updated: 13.05.2024 21:21
It is believed that within 3 months, everything that causes acute pain (damage to tissue, skin, muscles, internal organs) heals and is restored.
If this does not happen, and the pain persists beyond this period of tissue healing, then this pain can be called chronic.
How chronic pain affects mental health
Chronic pain leads to stress, sleep disturbances, anxiety and depression.
In turn, these conditions increase the intensity and duration of pain.
It has been proven that psychological methods of “pain management,” which include mastering relaxation methods, self-hypnosis techniques and others, provide a significant positive effect.
Chronic pain often leads to or worsens psychological problems (eg, depression, anxiety).
It is often difficult to distinguish psychological cause from effect, but when pain, depression and anxiety coexist, they usually increase the overall sensation of pain.
Fibromyalgia affects approximately 4 million Americans (most of whom are women), according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC).
How Chronic Pain Affects the Brain
In patients with chronic pain, glutamate levels are reduced and signal transmission between neurons is impaired, primarily in the prefrontal cortex, leading to personality changes accompanied by persistent anxiety and low mood.
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