• Question: Working in the NHS, how often do you see patients where their pain is purely psychological and not due to any physiological reasons?

    Asked by anon-203761 to Alexandra on 4 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Alexandra Quigley

      Alexandra Quigley answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      Never. All pain is a mix of physical and psychological. Pain is not all in the body or all in the mind; it’s always both.
      What we think can hugely affect our experience of pain. Pain can have a negative consequence on our mood, which in turn can influence our pain.
      Managing pain is not a case of ‘just push on through’ or ‘mind over matter’, but it is also really important not to catastrohpise about pain and focus on the unwanted impact. It’s really important to have a ‘coping’ attitude. Prof Lorimer Moseley is a really inspirational researcher on pain. Take a look at this video to learn more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oji2mfcjisk

Comments