Episode #70- Mindfulness and Pain

In this episode, I talk about how more mindful people are less likely to pain catastrophize.  Which means, they will create less pain from their brain. (Last Episode #69 I talked all about how fear causes the brain to PRODUCE more pain that you feel in the body- The Pain-Fear-Pain Cycle).

 

This week we dive into understanding mindfulness more by how they measure mindfulness in research.

 

Here are some statements reflecting low mindfulness:

*I could be experiencing some emotion and not be conscious of it until some time later.

*I break or spill things because of carelessness, not paying attention, or thinking of something else. 

*I find it difficult to stay focused on what’s happening in the present. 

*I tend to walk quickly to get where I’m going without paying attention to what I experience along the way. 

*I tend not to notice feelings of physical tension or discomfort until they really grab my attention. 

*I forget a person’s name almost as soon as I’ve been told it for the first time. 

 

Here are some statements reflecting more mindfulness:

*I think before reacting under stressful situations.

*I can calm down soon after experiencing distressing thoughts and impulses.

*I can describe my feelings well.

*I can perceive emotions without reacting to them.

*I am aware of the bodily sensations when I take a bath.

*I can easily talk about my thoughts and opinions.

*I can watch my feelings without getting attached to them.

 

Listen to find out more about how your thoughts affect your pain!

 

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Transcript:

Episode #70- Mindfulness and Pain

This is Betsy Jensen, and you are listening to Unstoppable Body and Mind, Episode 70, Mindfulness and Pain. In this podcast, we learn to upgrade our brain and understand the power of our thoughts, to heal and to create the results we want in our life. Become the person in control of your healing and make peace with your life.

 

Become Unstoppable Body and Mind. Hello, my loves. Today, we are going to talk about the relationship between mindfulness and pain.

 

But first, I would like to ask if any of you have been enjoying this podcast and haven't yet gone over to iTunes to give it a rating and review. Please look in the show notes. You can follow the link there, and you can just write a few sentences or what you like about the podcast.

 

Give it a five-star rating, and that will help the podcast be found by more people and get the message out. I have about 300 or 400 downloads per week. So I know you guys are listening.

 

There's only about 57 reviews. So those of you that haven't done it yet, it would be really awesome. I'd appreciate it.

 

And with that being said, let's go ahead and move on to this topic. I've been super excited to learn more about. As I started to do research, I've been learning about what I talked about last week, the pain-fear pain cycle, and how having the reaction of fear to the pain signal will actually amplify the not only perception, but the production of more pain by the brain.

 

So what they've also found is that people who have more mindfulness, if they're more mindful, they have less pain catastrophizing. So pain catastrophizing I talked about last week. It's one way of looking at how fearful a person is about their pain, how they're perceiving it, how they're thinking about it.

 

So when people have more pain catastrophizing, that correlates with higher pain, more chances that they'll have a new acute pain, more chances that their acute pain will turn chronic, and even high catastrophizing before surgery predicts longer outcomes and a more difficult recovery. So it's important to look at these kinds of statements that people may think are just true and may say and realize that pain actually is influence by the way we're thinking and talking about our pain. So I want to talk a little bit more about mindfulness and its relation to pain.

 

People who score as more mindful have less pain intensity, less negative affect, less pain catastrophizing, less pain-related fear, less pain hypervigilance, and less functional disability. So in general, people who are more mindful have less pain. Now, in understanding mindfulness, I found a couple of scales that they use to measure mindfulness, and I'm going to read some of the statements so that you can see if you strongly resonate with some of them or if they're things that you don't think very often.

 

Just see if they seem familiar to you. They did a lot to me. So here are some statements from the mindfulness scale.

 

See if you agree with them a lot or just a little. I could be experiencing some emotion and not be conscious of it until sometime later. I break or spill things because of carelessness, not paying attention or thinking of something else.

 

I find it difficult to stay focused on what's happening in the present. I tend to walk quickly to get where I'm going without paying attention to what I experience along the way. I tend not to notice feelings of physical tension or discomfort unless they really grab my attention.

 

I forget a person's name almost as soon as I've been told it for the first time. Oh my gosh, that one. All of them so far, but especially that one.

 

It seems I'm running on automatic without much awareness of what I'm doing. I rush through activities without being really attentive to them. I get so focused on the goal I want to achieve that I lose touch with what I'm doing right now to get there.

 

I do jobs or tasks automatically without being aware of what I'm doing. I find myself listening to someone with one ear doing something else at the same time. I drive places on automatic pilot and then wonder why I went there.

 

I find myself preoccupied with the future or the past. I find myself doing things without paying attention. I snack without being aware that I'm eating.

 

Okay, so do any of those sound like things that describe you sometimes or a lot? That could show that you're not being mindful. I'm talking especially to all those people with chronic pain and disease that, like me, are probably perfectionistic, have a harsh inner critic, people pleasers, want to be good all the time.

 

So if you find yourself resonating with some of these things, first of all, know that I did with most of them, except for where I drive. Usually I know why I went there. But anyway, this is for your information, and especially just realizing this correlation between mindfulness and pain might not have been something that you've ever been told before or ever known before.

 

I know that definitely I didn't know about it until I started doing some research. So the other way that they measure mindfulness in a lot of the studies is with the FFMQ, which is the five facet mindfulness questionnaire. And I think this helps understanding what mindfulness is to look at how they measure it.

 

The five facets that they measure of mindfulness in this questionnaire are observation, which is the way we use our sensory awareness. So what we see or feel or perceive internally and externally, kind of what we focus on. Description, the way we label our experiences of the world, how we express them in words.

 

Aware actions, which is how we handle a stressful situation. Do we act out of quick judgment or we get out of autopilot quickly? The fourth facet is non-judgmental inner experience.

 

So that's the inner critic, not letting the inner critic take a toll on our happiness. This happens with self-acceptance and self-compassion. The last facet is non-reactivity.

 

So detachment from negative thoughts and emotions so we can accept their existence and choose not to react to them. Non-reactivity makes way for emotional resilience and restores mental balance. So these are the five facets of mindfulness that they measure.

 

And I want to read the statements from this questionnaire and again, see how you relate to some of these statements. See if any of them stand out to you and see if you're surprised by any of them. I know that I was.

 

So first, I'm going to read the statements that suggest less mindfulness. So something that if you're not as mindful, you might find yourself saying, I criticize myself for having irrational emotions and thoughts. How many of you do that?

 

I know that's very common with me and the people that I coach. We have irrational emotions and thoughts. We criticize ourselves, a lot of us.

 

But someone who's more mindful and compassionate towards themselves would not do that. I judge my thoughts as good or bad. I find it difficult to sustain focus.

 

I don't pay attention to my work as I'm busy daydreaming most of the time. I find it hard to express what I feel and easily distracted. I'm aware that some of my thoughts are not normal, and I know that I shouldn't feel that way.

 

This is low mindfulness. I find it difficult to describe my body sensations in words. I sometimes feel that I'm not in complete awareness of myself.

 

So did you find yourself agreeing with some of those statements? Which ones did you agree with strongly or less strongly? So as far as the statements that suggest more mindfulness, I'll read you those now.

 

While walking, I'm aware of the sensations in my body. I can describe my feelings well. I can perceive emotions without reacting to them.

 

I'm aware of the bodily sensations when I take a bath. I can easily talk about my thoughts and opinions. I can watch my feelings without getting attached to them.

 

I can feel how eating and drinking affect my body and mind. I can feel pure sensations like the wind or the sunlight touching my skin. I step back when I catch myself thinking something negative or distressing.

 

I can pay attention to the clock ticking, birds chirping, and cars passing. I think before reacting under stressful situations. I can calm down soon after experiencing distressing thoughts and impulses.

 

So here you can see what more of mindfulness might look like, being aware of how the body feels. And I would just say, you know, this isn't geared towards people in chronic pain necessarily, but the pendulum can swing a little far the other way when you're in chronic pain. So be aware if you're very, very hyper aware, hyper vigilant of your body sensations and reacting with fear.

 

That's not exactly what it's talking about. Maybe are you sensitive to any pleasant sensations in your body? That could be something to work towards.

 

If you're focusing more on negative sensations, because that's what you have a lot of. Do you notice how when there were emotions, there was not judgment about them? When there were stressful situations, the person is more able to think about what's going on, detach themselves from the reaction.

 

There's more emotional resilience. I think of mindfulness as being in the present moment. If you are focusing on something in your body, especially in a pleasant or neutral way, you are in the present moment.

 

That's why the breathing can be such a tool. If you are focusing on the breath, then you can't be thinking about the past or worrying about something in the future. I hope I gave you some things to think about this week with your relationship between mindfulness, being present, experiencing your sensations, and what you're experiencing with your sensation of pain.

 

Next week, I'm going to be talking about strategies to increase your mindfulness, which will help with decreasing pain. Be sure and get on my email list if you're not already. I'll be sending out Fun Fact Friday weekly research articles relating to healing and the power of thoughts.

 

And as well, I'll be telling you where I'll be going live and any events coming up. So go ahead and check out my website, bodyandmindlifecoach.com, if you want information or to get on my mailing list. All right, you guys, have a great week.

 

Bye. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you learned a little bit about your brain today that helps you in your life like it helped me.

 

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