While it might not be something everyone deals with, a lot of people across the world have to suffer through chronic pain every single day. This isn’t your average aches or things of that nature and for some, it can be crippling.
Regardless of the kind of chronic pain a person is facing, there can be side effects that other people might take a bit too personally or not understand at all and if someone in your life has chronic pain, this article is something you really need to let sink in. While there are limits to this kind of thing, when someone with chronic pain seems angry, you shouldn’t hold it against them. They’re not typically mad at you or upset with the people around them, they just have a lot going on and well, dealing with that pain can be tough.
PPM wrote as follows going over anger and pain:
Anger in relation to pain has only been studied recently and scientific evidence has been slow to accumulate.4 This lack of focus on the subject may be due in part to anger not being a diagnostic category in psychiatric classification.15 Approximately 70% of chronic pain patients have reported feeling angry at themselves and at healthcare professionals,16 but this may be an underestimation. Among individuals with chronic pain, high levels of anger are often associated with greater muscle tension, pain severity, and pain behaviors.17
In a sample of chronic pain patients undergoing an extensive psychiatric evaluation, about 10% met the criteria for an intermittent explosive disorder.18 Research has shown that intermittent explosive disorder is associated with arthritis, back/neck pain, headaches, and other chronic pain conditions.2 Previous findings have shown that individuals with migraines or tension headaches have higher anger levels and poorer anger control.19 Researchers have also suggested that anger management style behavior is a particularly important predictor of treatment outcomes in male chronic back pain patients.20
In related pain and anger studies, results indicated that patients who scored high on hostility had significantly higher ratings of chest pain.21-24 Earlier research also found that anger was an important predictor of pain in patients suffering from spinal cord injuries.22 And, in cancer pain, researchers have demonstrated that the level of anger was significantly higher in patients having pain versus no pain, and those experiencing pain had a higher intensity and longer duration.23-24
When it comes to managing chronic pain you also have to manage the other things that come with it. These things can be anything from anger to depression and well, even anxiety. Everyone faces this kind of thing in their own ways and well, we all need to be aware of that if we want to help support the people in our lives that we care about who are facing chronic pain on any level.
Whether someone ends up feeling angry because there is no end to their pain or because they cannot do the things they once could, their anger isn’t something stemming from you, while it might feel like you’re being targeted sometimes, talking with this person about it might really work wonders. The more they work through the rage within in this sense, the better they can get at managing it. Anger is a very strong emotion and well, pain is not easy to cope with.
Our minds and bodies are connected when our bodies hurt, our minds also hurt. Mental illness can cause physical pains and physical pains can in that same sense bring about mental illnesses and other issues of the sort. I know, for some this might be hard to understand but it’s crucial to try.
Pain Scale wrote as follows about all of this:
Living with chronic pain can cause resentment, frustration and anger. These emotions can be directed toward health care professionals, friends, family members, co-workers or even the individual themselves. Anger is the one of the most prominent emotions when dealing with a chronic pain condition. Although anger is a natural emotion, too much anger can interfere with pain management.
Uncontrolled anger can increase pain levels, affect physical functioning, disrupt sleep patterns, interfere with social connections, and lead to a loss of emotional support. Anger has also been linked to increased inflammation and muscle tension. Learning how to effectively deal with anger does not mean giving in to the pain. Emotional awareness is the first step in processing anger.
When it comes to things like this communication is key. The more someone talks about what they’re going through and how they feel, the better they can work through it. While that anger might not go away entirely, getting it under control is important. If you care about someone with chronic pain, talking things out from time to time might be very much needed.