I found this to be interesting. Perhaps you will too.

http://themindunleashed.org/2014/08/...-explains.html

“Pain feels like a fast stab wound to the heart. But then healing feels like the wind against your face when you are spreading your wings and flying through the air. We may not have wings growing out of our backs, but healing is the closest thing that will give us that wind against our faces.” ~C. Joybell

Do you remember growing up, going to the doctor’s office to get a vaccine shot —only to be crippled by the thought of having a sharp needle stuck in you? But for some strange reason, when your doctor took your attention off of the shot and onto whatever they were saying; the pain of the needle became unnoticeable. Now did the pain magically go away with your doctor’s kind words or is it that pain goes beyond just the physical sensation attached to it? Neuroscience is illustrating for the world, that perhaps pain is more bio-psychological than we had previously thought. In fact, pain is more in your head than you ever realized.

The Different Types of Pain Explained

We first need to understand that there are different types of pain and how we perceive them is varied as well. For example, there is a difference between tissue-damage pain and the pain associated with a broken heart. Both feel just as intense as the other, the major difference is the origin of the pain and how your neurons interpret the pain associated with the stimulus.

Edwin S. Shneidman PhD, founder of the American Association of Suicidology, explains that the majority of pain, even physical pain has its roots in the body’s need for help. Dr. Shneidman goes on to say that the sensation of pain is a combination of physiological processes and psychological needs. Needs such as the need for love, freedom, achievement or even the need to avoid embarrassment, shame, and harm.

Another element that contributes to how you feel pain and the reason we all experience it slightly differently, is which needs take priority within our personal lives. Harvard University Psychologist Henry Murray enlightened the psychological community by explaining that there are no concrete forms expressing the caliber of someone’s pain. The only legitimate method is by gauging someone’s reactions to pain and what they have to say about what they are feeling. Henry Murray goes on to say that this phenomenon occurs because each one of us rates our psychological needs differently. Meaning, what is the most important need for me (emotional need) may not be the most important need for you (financial need), thus the reason in differing levels of pain.

Another factor that plays into how you perceive pain is your childhood and the experiences of pain as a child. Think about it, if you had never experienced pain before, you would be devastated the first time you broke a bone because you wouldn’t have the gained wisdom on how to deal with said pain. The same happens if a child is exposed to pain consistently and then reinforced by a negative emotion. This leads to two different types of pain sensitizations.


Peripheral Sensitization

This type of pain sensitivity has to deal with the inflammation or damage to your bodily tissue. For example, when you get a cut on your finger, you are experiencing peripheral sensitization. During this process, there is a change in the transduction proteins, which are the carriers of messages that affect the nociceptors, or the receptors of your body’s sensory neurons. When you burn your finger, the stimulus is transformed into electrical signals which are then carried throughout your nervous system and up to your brain via these proteins.

Central Sensitization

During this type of pain something different happens in people: instead of originating from bodily harm, this pain can manifest itself without tissue damage. What happens is that the neurons in your central nervous system become excited more easily —resulting in feeling pain for much longer periods of time and much more easily. The pain that would normally subside after the initial stimulus still lingers around, eventually leading to chronic pain.

The Mind-Body Connection To Pain

Many doctors believe that disorders such as Fibromyalgia; where the patient has nothing physiologically wrong with them, can be tied back to central sensitization. I spoke with the former President of the Austin Pain Society, Dr. Brannon Frank, in order to better understand the mind and pain connection. After several discussions about single-case patients, Dr. Frank explained to me that the majority of his patients that come complaining of chronic stress usually begins with a life story.

Whereas athletes and other patients who have recently suffered tissue damage can immediately pinpoint the exact origin of pain and typically explain the situation behind the accident. Fibromyalgia patients and others suffering from chronic pain paint a picture of great emotional distress. Dr. Frank goes on to tell me that more often than not, the patients suffering from severe chronic pain, tell the story of their lives where they recently divorced, lost a loved one, or are undergoing severe depression.

This is a real life example of how pain is not just in the body, but in the mind of the beholder. So the next time you find yourself battling chronic pain or a bad back, before you run to your physical therapist — take a long and hard look at your life. Are you suffering from the loss of something valuable in your life or are you genuinely physically hurt? The answer won’t be easy or completely obvious, but I can tell you this much, how you react to the pain makes all the difference. It truly, may be all in your head.

To Learn More About Pain (References)

Journal of The American Physical Therapy Association: http://ptjournal.apta.org/content/91/5/700.long

US National Library of Medicine: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7702468

US National Library of Medicine: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9188037

Karen Byfield | Mental Health Advocate (original publication)

About the Author

As an American Author and Research Psychologist, the two aspects in life I value most are: humanity and self-improvement. I make it my goal and life’s work to illuminate the secrets of the mind and our potential to every thirsty man and woman. For when given water to grow, we humans prosper. Aside from my love of moving the human spirit — I also research and rejoice in the fields of neuroscience, historical arts, and quantum mechanics.

Credits: Luis R. Valadez, Learning-Mind, Guest contributor.

Thanks for this Vrae. I am so so happy to see the kinds of research being put out there lately. And by there I mean here - Ground Zero - on these boards. Where it matters most. Where we help heal one another with every positive new thought and every post supporting one another in our darkest hour. I love you guys.

I have an answer to the question. The day before my brain injury I had no pain. the day after I had pain in places I didn't know existed and still do. so instead of pseudo scientists and doctors with two much time answering metaphysical questions, why don't they do some real research and get rid of my @#@#$ pain.

Perhaps physicians and scientific researchers have not been able to get rid of our pain BECAUSE OF a specific focus on purely physical causes and effects.

That being said - I know metaphysical crap like that rings hollow to you markneil1212 because metaphysical crap like that rang hollow to me too, for most of my life. I hope you find relief soon.

When I read this I thought it was pretty dismissive. I certainly understand there's a strong connection between mind and body and pain. But I'm a biochemist and I also understand some of the things they find in this disease that no mind control can right.

I have about 10-15 lbs of inflammatory edema in my entire right leg and upper pelvic region and I'm quite thin otherwise. I've tried all the mind stuff, things I also did before I got this disease, and it won't go away. No doctor I've been to has suggested such a thing. Every single one has taken it quite seriously and approached it entirely from a medical standpoint. Three phase nuclear bone scan shows the bone in my right leg is being eaten away (calcium reabsorbed by my body) and is consistent with CRPS type I. Bisphosphonate infusions similar to those from the recent study in Italy everybody is touting helped reverse that. My mind couldn't do that.

I'm one of the rare CRPS victims that doesn't actually have severe pain but I have every other symptom along with POTS and a firm diagnosis. So for those who do have a lot of pain, I feel for you. Try these techniques and I hope they can help you some, but as a medical person there's no doubt in my mind there is a true physiologic process going on that your mind can't completely control no matter what this guy says. I'm glad it's helped some people but I don't think its the answer for everybody. JMHO.

Thanks again for the great links ,is so confusing ,so many studies saying rsd is mostly on our heads or autoimmune ,gets everyone I guess living in a puzzle that have still a missing piece.
Will add the links to my journal and hope to learn much more about all new studies outer ,always being educating about the conditions we suffer make such a difference and we can even tell a dr when we disagree or agree ,make thinks get real and we are not longer trying to guess what dr are doing to us as long as we know was the purpose and if in any way will be beneficial at all,before we didn't have that chance to take decisions ,now educations gave us the power to say yes dr do it or no dr I don't agree,now we can do that with facts behind.
Nice researches and truly appreciate all the time you guys take to teaches us something new and update what we know so far.
Gentle hugs and lots love ,from Jesika .