When we feel pain, we emit a series of behaviors that, without realizing it, can harm us in the long term. Find out how they affect us and what to do about it.
Pain is a physical event. Of course, when there is an injury or any type of organic damage, it is necessary to take action to cure it. But did you know that the mind also plays an important role in increasing or alleviating suffering? One of the most curious phenomena are the so-called pain-promoting behaviors or psychogenic behaviors.
They are those reactions, acts or behaviors that we implement as a result of pain or discomfort. For example, putting pressure on the painful area with your hand, adopting certain postures to mitigate the sensation, or avoiding certain activities while feeling sick. This kind of behavior seems very logical; and, in fact, they can help us at first. However, in the long run, they can make the discomfort last longer.
What are the behaviors that promote pain?
Normally we tend to think of pain as something purely physiological: stitches, burning or itching sensation, pressure or tension in the area … However, the reality is that it has several other components:
Cognitive aspect
It refers to the thoughts, ideas and beliefs that are generated and held around pain and illness. And these are not the same in all people.
There are those who adopt a catastrophic attitude that accentuates the negative view that almost all of us already have of pain, to brood over and over again it and not being able to get it out of your mind. We pay a lot of attention to it and this generates a greater sensitivity to pain as well as a more intense perception of it.
Emotional or affective aspect in behaviors that promote pain
It is related to the emotions generated by pain. Obviously it is not pleasant for anyone, but there are those who develop excessively negative affects. For example, feel helpless and unable to control the disorder, exaggerate the threatening properties of the pain stimulus and they feel they can do nothing to improve their situation.
These associated emotions amplify the pain and also add a component of psychological suffering.
Behavioral aspect
Finally, every pain has a component linked to conduct, acts and behavior. It is reflected in the actions we take in this regard.
As we said, this can range from touching the area that hurts, verbalizing how sick or sore we feel, visiting the doctor, taking medications, or restricting our daily movements or activities. These are all so-called pain behaviors.
What role do pain-promoting behaviors play?
All of these actions occur naturally when we are in pain. It is normal for us to do them and they can help us feel better, get comfort or find solutions. However, if we engage excessively with them, they can become a problem.
Those who emit this type of disease behavior the most are more likely to adopt the “sick role”, to install themselves in that conception of themselves and, therefore, to suffer the consequences of seeing themselves in this way. Although, in the face of a specific pain, they may not have great relevance, if we are talking about a chronic condition, these behaviors can aggravate the situation and disability.
Those who are more involved in these behaviors and settle in the “sick role” tend to suffer more, experience more symptoms of anxiety and depression, higher degrees of disability and inactivity and worse working conditions. These results were found by analyzing patients with conditions such as low back pain, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia or migraine.
In light of these findings, psychotherapeutic strategies were designed to reduce or eliminate these painful behaviors in order to reduce discomfort and improve patients’ quality of life.
Psychotherapeutic interventions in the presence of psychogenic behaviors
This behavioral approach to pain focuses on modifying these behaviors associated with discomfort. Therefore, the person is urged to progressively get rid of those reactions that he has developed.
These procedures are known as operant techniques, as they are based on the principles of instrumental conditioning (that is, all behaviors that are repeated and maintained do so because they are somehow reinforced).
From this point of view, we must keep in mind that, by engaging in pain-promoting behaviors, we often get some secondary benefit as well. For example, we receive attention, affection and comfort from our loved ones.
Or we can free ourselves from unpleasant activities (such as working or doing housework). Even if unconsciously, we understand that this “sick role” offers us advantages and we continue to play it.
Behaviors that promote pain: how to correct them?
Here it becomes essential a conscious commitment and work to reverse this situation. For instance:
- Stop verbalizations of discomfort
- Eliminate the painful gestures of the face and body
- Stop avoiding situations by “welcoming” the disease. Resume and restore all those daily activities that are limited (always as much as possible).
- Introduction to physical exercise
Through gradual programs, any progress is encouraged and the goal is thus achieved. Although a global approach is always necessary that does not neglect the physical and physiological aspects of pain, working on the rest of the areas (and, specifically, in the behavioral one) can promote a better quality of life.
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