A recent study suggests that enhancing patients’ ability to manage their emotions could play a key role in alleviating chronic pain. Researchers found that individuals who develop stronger emotional regulation skills, such as coping with stress or negative feelings, report lower levels of pain intensity.
Chronic pain, or the persistent pain beyond the healing period of three months following a physical injury, is estimated to affect about a third of the world’s population.
Researchers, led by those from the University of New South Wales and Neuroscience Research Australia, trialled a behaviour therapy. It aimed to improve participants’ ability to process emotions by de-escalating negative ones and enhancing positive ones.
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The researchers conducted eight online group therapy sessions for 90 patients experiencing chronic pain conditions, including lower back pain and fibromyalgia. The trial’s results, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s (JAMA) Open Network, showed that those receiving behaviour therapy for six months reported better emotion regulation and reduced pain.
The authors also found a “sustained improvement in depression symptoms and a clinically significant reduction in pain intensity”.
“By changing how we manage emotions, it is possible to change the experience of pain itself. The result is not just a temporary relief but a potential long-term improvement in quality of life for those affected by chronic pain,” author Sylvia Gustin, a psychologist and director of the NeuroRecovery Research Hub at the University of New South Wales, said.
“A key factor in disease progression is the inability to regulate negative emotions. This ability is disrupted by the impact of persistent pain on the brain’s emotional circuitry. The resulting emotion dysregulation is an ill-understood and undertreated aspect of chronic pain, which we addressed in the trial,” Gustin said.
