How to Get Out of Catastrophizing Chronic Pain
One of the biggest challenges with chronic pain is what we call pain catastrophizing. Catastrophizing chronic pain has many negative consequences that can severely affect quality of life. The good news is that catastrophizing can be turned into improved coping skills.
The elements of pain catastrophizing
During pain catastrophizing, you experience the pain as a disaster, something terrible that will never end. This consists of three subconscious activities: rumination, magnification, and helplessness.
Rumination is constantly brooding about the pain. You cannot stop thinking about how severe it is; you keep wishing it would go away. With magnification, the pain takes up more space in your mind than it needs to. Magnification is subconscious, so you don’t see it as exaggeration. Helplessness regarding the pain is just what it sounds like.
If you also have unresolved psychological trauma, catastrophizing pain often leads to overactive orientation responses. Your attention is constantly drawn to the traumatic events. You can read more about important precautions for meditation in the context…
