"Most of us think of pain as a temporary alarm system-a sharp sting when we touch a hot stove or the dull ache of a healing bruise. But chronic pain is different. It is generally defined as pain that persists for three months or longer, outlasting the typical healing time for an injury. It isn't just a symptom. For the roughly 50 million adults in the U.S. living with it, chronic pain is often a condition in its own right."
"What surprises many people-and even some clinicians-is that chronic pain isn't always about physical damage. We often assume that if something hurts, something must be broken. However, chronic pain often involves central sensitization. This is where the nervous system becomes stuck in a high-alert state. The brain continues to produce a pain signal even after the initial physical injury has healed."
Chronic pain is pain that persists three months or longer and often becomes a condition independent of the original injury. Chronic pain frequently reflects central sensitization, where the nervous system remains in a heightened state and continues to generate pain signals after tissues have healed. This condition affects cognition, emotion, behavior, relationships, and spirituality, amplifying anxiety and depression. Effective management requires recognition that pain is not always due to ongoing tissue damage and incorporation of psychological and behavioral tools, including positive psychology practices such as gratitude, to reduce sensitization, improve coping, and restore functioning.
Read at Psychology Today
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