Reducing perceived pain

¶ … reduce the amount of pain perceived. Many people have the ability to reduce perceived pain through psychological thought and understanding. Not all people can handle their pain in this manner, but it can help many chronic pain patients deal with their illnesses and their constant pain.

One technique is using positive coping mechanisms to deal with the pain, and the psychologist may be able to work with the patient in developing these coping mechanisms. Experts note, "People who feel that they have a number of successful methods for coping with pain may suffer less than those who behave and feel helpless, hopeless, and demoralized" (Turk, Monarch & Williams, 2004, p. 222). If the patient has a history of coping well with other stressful events, then they may be a good candidate for using coping mechanisms. Some of these coping mechanisms include relaxation, pain medication, and psychological counseling to help increase the effectiveness of coping mechanisms (Turk, Monarch & Williams, 2004, p. 223-227). This counseling could including teaching the patient how to rationally describe the pain, rather than catastrophizing it and making it worse in their own minds than it really is. Positive statements such as "I can handle this," or "this pain isn't as bad as I thought it would be" are a part of this type of positive coping mechanism.

Another successful strategy has been sensory focus. Studies show that how we perceive pain is either emotion or sensation focused, and if it is emotionally focused, it may be seen as more intense. When patients are focusing emotionally on their pain, treatment includes intervention where the patient focuses "exclusively on the sensations they are experiencing, thereby preventing activation of the emotional schema and resulting in a less intense pain experience" (Bruehl & Chung, 2004, p. 250). Obviously, this technique does not work with all patients, but for the more emotional patients, it is worth a try.

Distraction is another strategy that often works, and one of the most successful distraction methods is listening to music. Experts have found that "Distraction techniques consume part of an individual's limited capacity for attention, thereby reducing the attentional resources that can be directed at the painful stimulus" (Bruehl & Chung, 2004, p. 250). Music can also be soothing, and this helps take the mind off the pain, too. Other distractions that have proved successful are visual stimuli such as a virtual reality or video game, and even finger tapping or blowing on a party blower (Bruehl & Chung, 2004, p. 250). However, these distraction techniques are normally most effective on lower intensity pain, and the effectiveness often decreases if the distraction technique lasts too long.