Episode 3: The Pain Experience - Part I

Understanding the Pain Experience

In this episode of Mind Your Body, Dr. Zev Nevo delves into the complex science of pain perception, explaining how our brains and bodies interpret pain beyond mere physical sensations. He reveals the significance of our emotional and psychological states in shaping our pain experiences and discusses the concept of neuroplastic pain. By understanding the role of our mindset and past experiences, Dr. Nevo emphasizes the power of reappraisal and how it can alter our response to pain. This episode sets the stage for future discussions on how to take control of our pain perceptions and foster resilience.

00:00 Welcome to Mind Your Body

01:01 Understanding the Concept of Pain

01:42 The Dimmer Switch of Pain Perception

02:58 The Purpose of Pain

05:13 Neuroplastic Pain and Interpretation

07:07 Reappraisal and Emotional Reactivity

08:05 Conclusion and Next Steps

09:03 Stay Connected and Engaged

This essential pre-roll message serves as a clear disclaimer, stating that the podcast provides pain and trauma-informed psychoeducation for informational and entertainment purposes only, and does not constitute medical advice. Listeners are reminded to always consult a qualified healthcare professional for specific medical conditions or symptoms.

About Dr. Nevo
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LINKS:

• Body and Mind Pain Center
• Mind Body Rehabilitation
• Substack

Transcript

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Hello and welcome back to another episode of Mind Your Body. Today we're diving into a topic that's incredibly important, something I discuss frequently with patients, the concept of pain. Now, when we say we feel pain, it's not as simple as just a signal traveling from a nerve ending to the brain. Think of it this way, imagine you're not just a machine receiving data.

But a human being interpreting that data. We add our own conscious spin to the sensations that we experience, and this profoundly changes how we perceive them. It's like this, you have a light switch and then you have a dimmer. Our interpretation of sensations acts like that dimmer switch. We don't just register pain or no pain.

We also determine how much pain we feel. [00:02:00] This is influenced by so many things and it dramatically impacts our emotional response, which further shapes our overall experience of suffering. So what flips that paint switch on and what turns that dimmer up or down? That's the key to understanding why some people develop chronic pain and why people with similar injuries.

Can experience drastically different levels of pain. It's crucial to understand this. Experiencing pain intensely isn't a sign of weakness and not experiencing it isn't a sign of strength, but rather it's a reflection of our minds and bodies constantly scanning. Am I safe or am I in danger? Survival is the name of the game.

This understanding [00:03:00] helps us recognize the purpose of pain, whether it's physical, emotional, or any other signal that our body sends. It's a warning system designed to protect us. Think about it when you feel anger, frustration, or shame. Alongside physical pain, there's often this underlying drive to survive, to protect yourself.

We can learn to respect these feelings as a fundamental drive embedded and encoded within us. You know how they say the opposite of love is in hate but indifference? Well, in a way, the opposite of pain is indifference too. Pain means we care about survival. If our bodies truly didn't care, we'd be insensate.

We wouldn't feel anything at all. Consider this. People who [00:04:00] lose their ability to perceive sensations due to nerve damage or injuries to the brain or spinal cord are at a much higher risk of injury. They might not even know they're hurt. So while we don't have to welcome pain, we can acknowledge its purpose.

We can pause and try to understand the underlying reasons for those sensations. Now, let's break down the pain experience itself. It's essentially two things, what we feel and how we feel about what we feel. I'm gonna say that again. The pain experience is what we feel and how we feel about what we feel.

That combination creates our unique experience of pain, and this is why pain can vary so much, not only from person to person, but even within the [00:05:00] same person from day to day. The same inputs can result in different intensities, different qualities, and even different locations of pain. This variability is largely due to something called neuroplastic pain.

It's heavily influenced by our interpretation of how threatening a situation or sensation is in any given moment. This in interpretation is shaped by our past experiences, our learned associations, and our current mindset or state of mind. Let me give you an example to illustrate this. Imagine you wake up one morning and get amazing news at work.

You've got that promotion. You're on top of the world feeling invincible on your drive home. Someone cuts you off in traffic. [00:06:00] On any other day, this might have triggered road rage. But today, today, because you're in such a state of joy and safety. You just brush it off, not today. Now contrast that with a day where you woke up late, got reprimanded and missed out on that promotion.

Your frustration threshold is way lower. The same exact incident. An experience of someone cutting you off could send you into a spiral of anger and stress. The key takeaway here is that the meaning that we assign to an experience heavily influences our response, our attitudes, our perspectives, our state of mind.

These are like lenses we see the world [00:07:00] through. We can learn to swap those lenses and gain a new clarity. This is what reappraisal is all about. Consciously choosing to see our experiences differently by Reappraising sensations in the moment we can reduce our emotional reactivity. To those sensations, approaching experiences with curiosity and a sense of calmness creates a pause.

This pause allows our logical brain, the prefrontal cortex, to step in and override that automatic survival response from our limbic system. This leads to a more accurate interpretation of our sensations based on the actual level of threat, rather than being hijacked by past pain, memories, and [00:08:00] anticipation of pain.

Now, this is just the beginning. In our next episode, we will delve deeper into this topic. We will explore the three part radar system that our bodies use to scan for safety and threat in each and every moment of our lives. Understanding these elements will give you the tools to take back control of your sensations and emotions.

You can reclaim the driver's seat, ultimately learning to interpret our sensations more accurately. Is often the key to experiencing less pain and developing greater resilience in the face of discomfort and adversity in our lives. Thank you so much for joining me today. Be sure to tune in next time as we continue this journey to understand the amazing complexity of our minds and [00:09:00] our bodies.

Thank you.