Health
Psychiatrist reveals how simple mindset shifts can significantly reduce chronic pain
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Chronic pain can be debilitating and frustrating, especially among aging adults.
While physical remedies and treatments can provide some relief, experts have found that shifting one’s mindset — or the way the brain approaches pain — can actually ease the discomfort.
Dr. Daniel Amen, a California-based psychiatrist and founder of Amen Clinics, has studied how changing the brain can help defeat chronic pain, as shared in his new book, “Change Your Brain, Change Your Pain.”
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In an on-camera interview with Fox News Digital, Amen noted that many people don’t know that chronic pain doesn’t just live in the joints, the knees or the back.
“If it’s been around for more than three weeks, it is now living in your brain,” he said. “There are actually circuits in your brain that feel pain. They feel both physical pain and emotional pain.”
Pain that sticks around for more than three weeks is also living in the brain, according to the doctor. (iStock)
Some medications that treat depression are FDA-approved for chronic pain, treating both emotional and physical imbalances, according to Amen.
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“It’s because they work on the same circuits in the brain,” he said. “The healthier your brain is, the less physical pain and emotional pain you’ll be in.”
That doesn’t mean, however, someone is “making up” the discomfort in their head, the psychiatrist emphasized.
“It’s going to be a lot more effective if you get your back and your brain working together.” (iStock)
If the brain — which is an organ like any other — begins to work too hard in certain areas, or not hard enough, finding ways to balance it can ease pain and calm the whole body, Amen noted.
In his book, he introduces the “doom loop” — chronic pain activates the suffering circuit in the brain, which then triggers negativity and muscle tension, followed by bad habits.
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“It gets you into the spiral … Your brain is out of control,” Amen said. “Which means if you have back pain, all the muscles around that inflamed area are clamping down and making you hurt even more.”
“It doesn’t mean you won’t need surgery — it just means it’s going to be a lot more effective if you get your back and your brain working together.”
“The healthier your brain is, the less physical pain and emotional pain you’ll be in.”
For people dealing with chronic pain, Amen recommends first checking in on the health of the brain.
“Ask yourself, ‘What does the pain mean to you?’” he suggested, adding that the biggest worry around pain is often the fear of losing freedom.
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Pain is often a symptom of repressed rage, Amen said, citing rehabilitation physician and chronic pain author John Sarno.
“Repressed emotions have to go somewhere, and they in fact go to the pain circuits in your brain that can then activate back pain, knee pain, neck pain,” he shared.
Amen warned of falling into the “doom loop,” which leads from physical pain to negativity, muscle tension and bad habits. (iStock)
The doctor suggested a practice he calls “emotional freedom,” which involves journaling about every five-year span of your life, writing down what happened during those blocks of time. This can include positive experiences, or moments of sorrow and anguish.
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“You really get a sense of where these repressed emotions could be,” he said.
Keeping a positive attitude and optimistic outlook can also suppress anger, therefore relieving pain, the doctor added.
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Simple measurements taken during routine blood pressure checks could predict dementia risk years before symptoms appear.
That’s according to new research presented this week at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session in Louisiana.
The findings draw on two studies led by researchers at Georgetown University, which suggest that monitoring how blood vessels age and stiffen over time can provide a window into future cognitive health.
LURKING DEMENTIA RISK EXPOSED BY BREAKTHROUGH TEST 25 YEARS BEFORE SYMPTOMS
Data shows rates of dementia and aging-related cognitive decline are expected to increase as populations age, and half of U.S. adults have high blood pressure (hypertension).
Scientists believe that efforts to better address hypertension, a key contributor to heart disease and a risk factor for dementia, could affect both cardiac and brain health.
Data shows rates of dementia and aging-related cognitive decline are expected to increase as populations age. Meanwhile, half of U.S. adults have high blood pressure. (iStock)
“Blood pressure management isn’t just about preventing heart attacks and strokes; it may also be one of the most actionable strategies for preserving cognitive health,” Dr. Newton Nyirenda, the study’s lead author and an epidemiologist at Georgetown University in Washington, said in a press release.
The research focused on two metrics, the pulse pressure-heart rate index and estimated pulse wave velocity. Both were calculated using data collected during standard doctor visits, such as heart rate, age and blood pressure.
“Blood pressure management isn’t just about preventing heart attacks and strokes; it may also be one of the most actionable strategies for preserving cognitive health.”
Researchers examined five years of data patterns for more than 8,500 people in the SPRINT trial, a large study of adults 50 years and older with hypertension. In the follow-up, 323 of the participants developed probable dementia.
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In one study, the team found the pulse pressure-heart rate index was a strong independent predictor of dementia risk in adults over 50. For participants under 65, every one-unit increase was associated with a 76% higher risk of developing dementia.
For participants under 65, an increase in the pulse pressure-heart rate index was associated with a 76% higher risk of developing dementia. (iStock)
The second study found that adults with consistently elevated or rapidly increasing pulse wave velocity were more likely to develop dementia than those with stable velocity, even after accounting for factors like smoking, gender and cardiovascular history.
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“Our findings suggest that vascular aging patterns may provide meaningful insight into future dementia risk,” said Nyirenda. “This reinforces the idea that managing vascular health earlier in life may influence long-term brain health.”
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The team emphasized that clinicians should tailor risk assessments and treatment strategies to the individual.
Further studies are needed to confirm these parameters and determine whether changing vascular aging trajectories reduces dementia risk. (iStock)
“You don’t want to wait until a patient starts manifesting cognitive decline before you act,” said senior study author Sula Mazimba, an associate professor at the University of Virginia.
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Researchers noted the study could not establish causation. Other limitations included the fact that participants already had hypertension and elevated cardiovascular risk, meaning the findings may not apply to people without those conditions.
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Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and to determine whether improving blood vessel health over time could reduce dementia risk.
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