Episode 8: Personality, Pain and Patterns of Suffering

Exploring the Mind-Body Connection: How Personality Affects Pain Perception

In this episode of 'Mind Your Body,' Dr. Zev Nevo dives into the fascinating interplay between personality and pain perception. Dr. Nevo, a board-certified physician in physical and regenerative medicine, shares his insights on how individual personality traits can shape one's experience of pain. He discusses how cultural messages and personal inclinations, such as high pain tolerance or people-pleasing tendencies, can influence pain management. The episode emphasizes the importance of recognizing one's own personality patterns and adopting practices like gentle movement and mindfulness to build resilience against pain. Dr. Nevo provides actionable advice on how to navigate the journey towards a life where pain does not dictate choices.

00:00 Introduction to Mind Your Body

01:13 The Impact of Personality on Pain

02:28 Cultural Messages and Pain Perception

03:58 The Mind-Body Connection

06:35 Personality Types and Pain

12:23 The Importance of Self-Care

13:39 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

About Dr. Nevo
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LINKS:

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

Transcript

Episode 8 | Personality, Pain, and Patterns of Suffering

Welcome back. Mind Your Body listeners. I'm Dr. Nevo and I'm fired up to explore something today that's super relevant to anyone who's ever dealt with pain. And let's be honest, that's pretty much all of us. We're gonna talk about how your personality, your unique way of being in the world can actually shape your experience of pain.

Think about that for a second . It's not just about the injury, the inflammation, the impaired nerve signaling. It's also about you, and this is something I've seen play out in my practice over and over again. It's like being a detective, noticing these patterns and how people approach pain and how it intertwines with their overall approach to life.[00:02:00] 

You know, it's fascinating. You see how some people seem to build these impenetrable walls around themselves. It's like they're wearing this invisible armor ready for battle, and when pain enters the picture, that armor just clamps down even tighter. I've treated so many patients who seem to equate feeling pain with some kind of personal weakness, a fundamental flaw.

We're bombarded with these cultural messages, right? "No pain, no gain." "Just suck it up." "Walk it off." I've worked with veterans who have internalized this to an extreme degree where acknowledging pain feels like a betrayal of their training. But here's the thing: pain does force us to change. It throws a wrench in our plans.

We might have to slow down. Cancel that hike . Ask for [00:03:00] help at work. And for some personalities that feels utterly unacceptable. It triggers this deep seated fear of being a burden, of letting others down. They become these high achieving pain warriors pushing through at all costs. "I have a high pain tolerance!"

they declare almost like a badge of honor. "I can't afford to be sidelined." And look, I get it. Sometimes the stakes are certainly high. Your livelihood might depend on your ability to perform, but what I often see is this tendency to apply that same "push through" mentality to every single situation, even when it's clearly counterproductive.

It's like we develop this rigid, one size fits all approach to our pain, and it's often actually fueled by fear. Let's break that down: [00:04:00] Ignoring pain, suppressing it, pretending it's not there, that's a classic flight response. Your brain perceives a threat. The pain itself, and your instinct is to run, to escape the discomfort.

Think about it. What do you do when you get a sudden sharp pain? You flinch, you pull away. You try to distract yourself. It's automatic, but here's where it gets really interesting. Our minds do possess this incredible, almost super hero like ability to block pain. Ever seen an athlete get seriously injured during a game, but they keep playing?

Adrenaline floods their system and their brain literally shuts down the pain signals because in that moment, the drive to compete is deemed more important than acknowledging [00:05:00] the injury. And it goes even deeper. We can train ourselves to exert a surprising degree of control over our physiology. Think about seasoned meditators who can slow their heart rate or even alter their brainwaves. You can even cheat a lie detector test by consciously regulating your physiological responses. It's wild. The mind body connection is undeniably powerful. But here's the crucial distinction, that ability to temporarily suppress pain for a specific purpose is very different from chronically suppressing pain as a way of life.

With chronic pain that run from it mentality often becomes our default setting. We're constantly fleeing, constantly avoiding, and that's when we run into serious trouble because then [00:06:00] everything becomes a potential threat. Any twinge. Any ache. Any sensation in an area where we've experienced pain before gets automatically labeled as dangerous.

Our inner smoke alarm is constantly blaring even when there's no fire. This leads to this hyper vigilant state where we either amplify the pain or we avoid anything that might even hint at triggering it. Our world shrinks. We become prisoners of our pain, and this is where personality plays a starring role.

Let's take introverts for example. Now I'm not saying all introverts have chronic pain. Not at all, but there are often common threads: a heightened sensitivity to external stimuli, a tendency to internalize [00:07:00] emotions. And sometimes an underlying fear of judgment. Think about it. If you are someone who already feels a bit vulnerable in social situations, you might develop coping mechanisms like avoiding crowds, staying quiet or trying to be invisible.

You might rely heavily on the approval of others to validate your own worth, and when you add chronic pain to that mix, it can amplify those tendencies. You might avoid social gatherings even more, fearing judgment or not wanting to burden others with your discomfort. It's like your pain becomes another reason to retreat to build those walls even higher.

But here's the paradox: Healing and recovery often involve gently and gradually challenging those very limitations. It's about giving ourselves permission [00:08:00] to explore movement again, to try activities that we've previously labeled as off limits. It's about leaning in little by little and desensitizing ourselves to those deeply ingrained beliefs about what's safe and not safe for our bodies.

Think of it like exposure therapy for pain. You wouldn't take someone with a fear of heights to the top of a skyscraper, right? You'd start with small steps, maybe just looking out a window, then a balcony gradually building their confidence. It's the same with pain. You start with gentle movements, short walks, activities you enjoy in a modified way.

You rebuild that sense of safety in your body. And here's a key takeaway: When you do something that used to cause pain [00:09:00] and it doesn't hurt, or it hurts less, it's absolutely crucial to celebrate that victory. Take a mental snapshot, capture that moment like a Polaroid. 

 Etch it into your memory bank as undeniable evidence that things can be different. Because what we're ultimately trying to do is rewrite the narrative. We're building up a library of counter experiences to challenge those old fear-based pain memories. Imagine this: you've got 50 entries in your pain memory bank, all labeled: "DANGER, AVOID!"

But then you start adding 50 new entries that say "NEUTRAL", "SAFE", or even "ENJOYABLE". Your brain now has to start reevaluating situations moving forward . [00:10:00] Your prefrontal cortex, the logical, rational part of your brain steps in and says, "Okay, are these sensations really a threat now, or am I just reacting based on outdated information?"

And that's how we build true lasting resilience against pain. We learn not to overreact, not to predict catastrophic danger from every little sensation. We reclaim our agency, but it's not just the tough it out, high pain tolerance personality that's relevant here. Let's talk about the givers, the people pleasers.

The ones who are always taking care of everyone else, often at the expense of their own wellbeing. Research consistently shows that these personality types are often overrepresented in chronic pain populations. They're the nice patients, the [00:11:00] ones who don't complain, who put everyone else's needs before their own.

They're the caregivers, the empaths. The ones who are incredibly valuable in our lives. But here's the thing: constantly pouring from an empty cup is unsustainable. Constantly putting others first can drain your own resources, both physically and emotionally. Think of it like this: We all have these internal energy tanks, right?

A physical energy tank and a mental, emotional, cognitive energy tank. And when either one gets depleted, it has real tangible consequences. If you are physically exhausted, you're more prone to pain flares, injuries, and inefficient movement patterns. Your body's running on fumes. [00:12:00] And if you're emotionally drained from always being "on", from suppressing your own needs, from pretending to be someone you're not to please others, that takes a massive toll too.

It can manifest as chronic fatigue, widespread pain, digestive issues, and a whole host of other seemingly unrelated symptoms. So self-care isn't selfish. It's not a luxury. It's absolutely essential for pain management and overall wellbeing. And here is a practical takeaway: Start thinking about your own energy levels like you think about your phone battery or your car's fuel tank. Nobody's embarrassed to plug in their phone when it's low. Nobody feels guilty for pulling over to fill up their car . We understand that these things need to be replenished to function properly. And we shouldn't wait until we're at [00:13:00] 1% to take action.

We plan ahead. We stock up on supplies before a storm. We develop a routine. We need to treat our own energy levels with that same proactive respect. If you're training for a marathon, you don't just aim to barely cross the finish line at 26.2 miles. You train for 30, 35 or 40. So you have a buffer, so you have resilience.

We need that same buffer, that same resilience in our daily lives, both physically and emotionally. So to bring it all together, I want you to start paying attention to your own personality patterns. Are you a tough it out type? Always pushing through the pain? Are you a people pleaser constantly prioritizing others' needs?

Are you an introvert who avoid situations that might trigger [00:14:00] discomfort? Recognize how those tendencies might be influencing your relationship with pain. Are they serving you or are they contributing to the problem? And then, here's the actionable part. Start taking those small, consistent steps to build resilience.

Both in your body and in your mind. It might be gentle movement, mindfulness practices, setting healthy boundaries in your relationships, or finally saying "no" to that draining commitment. It's a journey and it's not always easy, but it's a journey worth taking because you deserve to live a life where pain does not dictate your choices.

Thank you so much for listening, and I'll see you next time.