Five methods we have of controlling pain

Five methods we have of controlling pain

A few years ago, I noted five methods of controlling pain:

Distraction, Relaxation, Re-interpretation, Positive thinking, Placebo.

Distraction: Concentrate on interesting things which are more important than the pain.

Relaxation: Think of yourself as being in a relaxed state.

Re-interpretation:
What is pain?
It is simply your body telling you to pay attention to something.

What if your body is mistaken?
What if it is a false pain or if the pain falsely claims urgency?
Shouldn't you then be able to acknowledge, and then ignore the pain?

What is pain?
Your body tells you that part of your body is stressed.
What if the stress is good for your body?
Shouldn't you then be able to acknowledge, and then ignore the pain?

What if stress represents actual damage to the body?
Shouldn't you then be able to acknowledge the pain,
and take steps to remove the cause of damage.

Positive thinking.
No matter what goes wrong, you can handle it.

Placebo: It seems as if faith in our body to heal itself enhances its healing ability.

This is not so much magic as it is a simple recognition that our brain commands the body.
We should be wary of what commands we unconsciously give to our bodies.

If we believe that pain is unbearable,
we are telling our bodies to transmit pain messages.

If we believe that we can control our response to pain,
we are telling our bodies to moderate the pain messages.