It has long been held that emotions, like stress and anxiety can affect how we physically feel. This also includes things like exhaustion and fatigue, from over-working, with no mental break. Recent studies have found that there is a very strong relationship between emotion and pain.
When we are anxious, pain is increased in frequency and severity. Suffering with fear did not have the same reaction. Just being afraid will not increase your pain, but suffering with anxiety will.
A stressful situation or imagery (Like a memory?) will also increase pain. This may include trying to recover from injuries, while you are still stressing out about the crash or the trauma. This is the likely reason some people heal faster and respond to care better than others. The greater the degree of emotion associated with the injury, the greater the continuing pain response, no matter how good the care is.
It has also been shown that anxiety and exhaustion cause people to seek more care from different doctors, attempting to reduce their pain. They are not making up the pain, they are just recovering slower than expected by doctors, insurers and even family members.
Incorporating stress and anxiety-reducing forms of treatment to traditional care, with exercises, meditation/relaxation and other psychological techniques, may speed the true recovery of injuries.
- Bassi GS., Kanashiro A., Rodrigues GJ., Cuhna, FQ., Coimbra, NC., Ulloa, L. (2018). Brain Stimulation Differentially Modulates Nociception and Inflammation in Aversive and Non-aversive Behavioral Conditions. Neuroscience. July 15;383:191-204.
- Storm, H., Gunther, A., Sackey, PV., Bernhardsson, J., Bjarta, A. (2019). Measuring pain- Physiological and self-rated measurements in relation to pain stimulation and anxiety. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. May;63(5):668-675.
- Metzger, S., Poliakov, B., Lautenbacher, S. (2019). Differential effects of experimentally induced anxiety and fear on pain: the role of anxiety sensitivity. J Pain Research. June 6;12:1791-1801.
- Adamsson, A., Bernhardsson, S. (2018). Symptoms that may be stress-related and lead to exhaustion disorder: a retrospective medical chart review in Swedish primary care. BMC Family Practice. Oct 30;19(1):172