Mind-body Therapy for Pain Relief

Michael B. Ellner, DD, CHt, MSH

New York, NY

Patients can turn to mind–body therapies as an adjunct to more conventional analgesic treatments, especially when psychosocial stress is significantly contributing to their pain. Mind–body therapies have been shown to improve general pain symptoms and lessen the need for medications. For example, hypnotic interventions for chronic pain have produced significant reductions in perceived pain that, in some cases, is maintained for several months. In addition, words themselves can be healing, suggesting that language emphasizing separation of pain (the signal received by the brain) from suffering (the emotionally regulated interpretation of pain signals) can improve patients’ symptoms. Although the nociceptive signals themselves may remain constant, patients’ reactions to those signals can be modified. Mind–body therapies, including relaxation and breathing techniques, meditation, yoga, tai chi, qigong, hypnosis, and biofeedback, are associated with low physical and emotional risks and relatively low cost. Moreover, these approaches allow patients to be proactive in their treatment.

References

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