Millions Battling Chronic Pain And Concurrent Mental Health Condition

mental healthNew research from the University of Arizona Health Sciences and published in the journal PAIN found that nearly five million Americans experienced the co-occurrence of chronic pain and a mental health condition like anxiety or depression, leading to functional limitations in their daily life.

As we’ve mentioned on the blog in the past, it’s not uncommon for chronic pain and a mental health condition to develop alongside one another because chronic pain can have a significant effect on your physical, mental and emotional health. If you are forced to miss social events, your career aspirations are limited or you simply find it hard to pull yourself out of bed in the morning because of physical pain, your mental health will also take a hit. For some, that manifests in the form of anxiety or depression.

In a review of data from 31,997 people who participated in the National Health Interview Survey, researchers found that that roughly 38.1 million Americans are dealing with a chronic pain condition, 9.6 million are dealing with a diagnosed mental health condition, and 4.9 million are dealing with co-occurring chronic pain and a mental health condition. Additionally, adults with chronic pain were roughly five times more likely to report anxiety or depression compared to adults without chronic pain.

“The study’s findings highlight an underappreciated population and health care need – the interdependency between mental health and chronic pain,” said the paper’s lead author Jennifer S. De La Rosa, PhD, director of strategy for the University of Arizona Health Sciences Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center, which funded the study. ”This work is so exciting because it offers the opportunity to use team-based interdisciplinary approaches to medicine, leveraging what is known across disciplines to meet the needs of these individuals.”

Chronic Pain And Mental Health Conditions

Other important findings from the study include:

  • Nearly 70 percent of people with co-occurring symptoms reported limitations at work.
  • More than 55 percent of people with co-occurring symptoms reported difficulty taking part in social events
  • Nearly 44 percent of people with co-occurring symptoms said they had difficulty running errands alone
  • Among all U.S. adults living with unremitted anxiety or depression, the majority (55.6%) are people who also have chronic pain.

This study only further emphasizes the idea that you can’t simply focus on treating the physical aspects of a chronic pain condition. Pain weighs heavy on your mind, and if you’re only focused on the physical pain, you may find that your mental health is suffering.

Even if you don’t believe your mental health has been affected by a chronic pain, you need to be aware that you’re at a higher risk of certain mental health disorders. You need to trust your care to a provider who will give you the comprehensive care you need to tackle all aspects of your chronic pain condition. Dr. Cohn and his team have done that for years for other patients, and we’d be more than happy to put our experience to work for you. For more information, or for help with a different chronic issue, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today at (952) 738-4580.

Resolve To Care For Your Mental Health This Year

mental healthMaking New Year’s resolutions has always seemed to be a tradition. This year, instead of resolutions, I thought to myself, “What is something important to my health that I should be doing more on a daily basis?”

What change can I make in my life that would be positive? Is there something I need to do regularly? Lastly, is it something only I should care about? I came up with two things:

  • Be responsible, and;
  • Take care of myself mentally

As I grow older, the one truth that seems to be so important is to have good mental health. In general, it is easy to care for one’s physical needs. Exercise, eating, sleeping and those things are more straightforward. Keeping going mentally is more challenging. Everyone has a lot of responsibilities. Taking time to relax and enjoy the world and do things that make one happy are important. Remembering not to get upset about the petty stuff and things that are not controllable is also key. Spend time with family and friends, and do things besides work. Look for the beauty that surrounds us.  Maybe consider more time away from work.

Caring For Your Mental Health

Mental health seems to be critical for physical health. All sorts of mental problems, especially stress, anxiety and depression adversely affect how one feels. With prolonged mental stress, physical health is almost impossible to achieve. Once stable mentally, physical problems can be much more easily addressed. If one has significant mental health issues, one often does not have insight into the relationship of those issues to physical problems. This is especially true with regards to pain and anxiety.

All physicians generally want to help their patients feel better. In Pain Medicine, we often want to try to cure the pain. However, pain is more complicated than something like sprain or a bruise. Almost all pain that lasts a length of time has emotional components. It is not just a physical sensation, but it is also tied to how we feel and often is associated with stress, anxiety and depression.

This is not a coincidence, and it is due to the fact that areas of the brain that interpret sensations related to painful stimuli are located next to emotional centers. Sensory input and emotions become entangled and then the brain stops being able to distinguish between them. Emotions soon are perceived as a variety of pains in the body. When this happens, solving physical sensory stimuli that produce pain is not helpful and the psychological issues must be addressed to move forward.

The recognition by a patient of the entanglement of stress, anxiety, and depression and the perception of having pain is a major milestone for people. Once an understanding of the role of emotions becomes evident to a person and how it influences physical well being, progress can often be made toward better treating abnormal sensations that may be considered painful. Improving anxiety and depression almost universally helps in the management of pain. It is not because you are “crazy” and the pain is all in your head, but it is that the painful sensations are entangled with emotions and these feelings need to be treated as importantly as the physical symptoms. Treating only the physical is only treating half of the problem and not solving the whole situation. However, patients have to admit to themselves that the other problems exist and need help. It is amazing how physical problems improve when emotional problems are treated.

The best wish for the new year is to improve both physical and mental health. If one treats oneself correctly mentally and emotionally, our physical health is much easier to work on. Without being stable emotionally it is hard to have the energy to solve other problems. Usually, it is much harder work to solve emotional trauma than physical problems. The first step is recognizing that there may be emotional issues and then seek out help. It is not a sign of weakness to have help solving mental health problems. These are very tough and often complex situations with difficult and less than perfect solutions. If physical problems exist and are not improving, take some time and look for the entangled emotions. Both probably exist and at least one of the areas is being ignored. Seek out help and amazing results often occur.

Mental Health and Chronic Pain

Chronic Pain Mental Health SartellNew research published in the Journal of Pain suggests that 1 in 4 teenagers diagnosed with a mental health issue also suffer from chronic pain.

We’ve discussed the correlation between changes in your brain and the onset of chronic pain on the blog before, but the recent study shines more light on the link. For their study, researchers at the University of Basel analyzed data from nearly 6,500 teens between the ages of 13 and 18. They uncovered that more than 25 percent of teens with a mental disorder also experienced chronic pain.

Other findings from the study show:

  • 20 percent of teens suffer from a mental disorder, and 25 percent of them have chronic pain.
  • Mental disorders developed prior to the onset of chronic pain.
  • All types of chronic pain were associated with mental disorders.

“All types of pain were related to mental disorders,” researchers wrote. “The most substantial temporal associations were those with onset of mental disorders preceding onset of chronic pain, including those between affective disorders and headaches and any chronic pain; between anxiety disorders and chronic back/neck pain, headaches, and any chronic pain; between behavior disorders and headaches and any chronic pain; and between any mental disorder and chronic back/neck pain, headaches, and any chronic pain.”

Breaking It All Down

Researchers say the results indicate that anxiety and behavioral disorders may indicate that a teen is at a heightened risk for chronic headaches or back and neck pain. It also means that some forms of chronic pain may be preventable if we increase treatment options for mental health issues.

“Future studies should focus on identifying the underlying biological and psychological mechanisms with a view to developing interdisciplinary approaches to prevention and treatment,” said lead researcher Dr. Marion Tegethoff.

I too would be interested in further studies on the subject, but I know that exercise has been proven to be beneficial for both people suffering from depression and for those with chronic pain. So while we wait for more information on how we can combat chronic pain through mental health services, go for a 30-minute jog or go for a long walk with a friend!