Is Pain Real or Is It All In Your Head? Neuroscience Explains

Pain feels like a fast stab wound to the heart. But then healing feels like the wind against your face when you are spreading your wings and flying through the air. We may not have wings growing out of our backs, but healing is the closest thing that will give us that wind against our faces.” ~C.Joybell
Do you remember growing up, going to the doctor’s office to get a vaccine shot —only to be crippled by the thought of having a sharp needle stuck in you? But for some strange reason, when your doctor took your attention off of the shot and onto whatever they were saying; the pain of the needle became unnoticeable. Now did the pain magically go away with your doctor’s kind words or is it that pain goes beyond just the physical sensation attached to it? Neuroscience is illustrating for the world, that perhaps pain is more bio-psychological than we had previously thought. In fact, pain is more in your head than you ever realized.

The Different Types of Pain Explained

We first need to understand that there are different types of pain and how we perceive them is varied as well. For example, there is a difference between tissue-damage pain and the pain associated with a broken heart. Both feel just as intense as the other, the major difference is the origin of the pain and how your neurons interpret the pain associated with the stimulus.

Edwin S. Shneidman PhD, founder of the American Association of Suicidology, explains that the majority of pain, even physical pain has its roots in the body’s need for help. Dr. Shneidman goes on to say that the sensation of pain is a combination of physiological processes and psychological needs. Needs such as the need for love, freedom, achievement or even the need to avoid embarrassment, shame, and harm.

Another element that contributes to how you feel pain and the reason we all experience it slightly differently, is which needs take priority within our personal lives. Harvard University Psychologist Henry Murray enlightened the psychological community by explaining that there are no concrete forms expressing the caliber of someone’s pain. The only legitimate method is by gauging someone’s reactions to pain and what they have to say about what they are feeling. Henry Murray goes on to say that this phenomenon occurs because each one of us rates our psychological needs differently. Meaning, what is the most important need for me (emotional need) may not be the most important need for you (financial need), thus the reason in differing levels of pain.

Another factor that plays into how you perceive pain is your childhood and the experiences of pain as a child. Think about it, if you had never experienced pain before, you would be devastated the first time you broke a bone because you wouldn’t have the gained wisdom on how to deal with said pain. The same happens if a child is exposed to pain consistently and then reinforced by a negative emotion. This leads to two different types of pain sensitizations.


Peripheral Sensitization

This type of pain sensitivity has to deal with the inflammation or damage to your bodily tissue. For example, when you get a cut on your finger, you are experiencing peripheral sensitization. During this process, there is a change in the transduction proteins, which are the carriers of messages that affect the nociceptors, or the receptors of your body’s sensory neurons. When you burn your finger, the stimulus is transformed into electrical signals which are then carried throughout your nervous system and up to your brain via these proteins.

Central Sensitization

During this type of pain something different happens in people: instead of originating from bodily harm, this pain can manifest itself without tissue damage. What happens is that the neurons in your central nervous system become excited more easily —resulting in feeling pain for much longer periods of time and much more easily. The pain that would normally subside after the initial stimulus still lingers around, eventually leading to chronic pain.

The Mind-Body Connection To Pain

Many doctors believe that disorders such as Fibromyalgia; where the patient has nothing physiologically wrong with them, can be tied back to central sensitization. I spoke with the former President of the Austin Pain Society, Dr. Brannon Frank, in order to better understand the mind and pain connection. After several discussions about single-case patients, Dr. Frank explained to me that the majority of his patients that come complaining of chronic stress usually begins with a life story.

Whereas athletes and other patients who have recently suffered tissue damage can immediately pinpoint the exact origin of pain and typically explain the situation behind the accident. Fibromyalgia patients and others suffering from chronic pain paint a picture of great emotional distress. Dr. Frank goes on to tell me that more often than not, the patients suffering from severe chronic pain, tell the story of their lives where they recently divorced, lost a loved one, or are undergoing severe depression.

This is a real life example of how pain is not just in the body, but in the mind of the beholder. So the next time you find yourself battling chronic pain or a bad back, before you run to your physical therapist — take a long and hard look at your life. Are you suffering from the loss of something valuable in your life or are you genuinely physically hurt? The answer won’t be easy or completely obvious, but I can tell you this much, how you react to the pain makes all the difference. It truly, may be all in your head.

Nothing makes me more mad than anyone stating to someone else that their pain is all in their head. I just thought this was an interesting article but do believe no one can define another persons pain.

i don't ever tell someone that their pain isn't real but i'm living proof that you can turn it into more than what it is in your head. if you talked to me a year ago i would swear to you i was damn near disabled but here i am over coming it. it has alot to do with your will to do it and if your on meds for pain its almost impossible! will i ever squat or deadlift 500 plus pounds again who knows but i tell you i'm going to give it hell!! hell i can always go back to being sad on meds but i say screw that let's move some shit!!!

thanks for sharing and I think 90% of us here have a story of pain or even chronic pain. the thing is that when many are in pain, it causes them to be depressed and when many are depressed it causes more pain. Its crazy for sure. For some meds are necessity and it really depends what is the root of their pain

When I used to work in the medical field years ago, the diagnosis code book was sooooo much thinner than it is now. There is a freakin code for everything and the book is very thick now. In order to get paid for claims they have created codes for every illness and such and even created illiness. So when you see a doc. you leave there with adiagnosis of some sort...it is such a vicious cyle.

When I first started with all over body pain, years ago, my goofy doc said right away "that's classic for fibromyalgia", no tests no nothing to rule things out. Just sent me off with a med for that and needless to say, I did not take it ,and persued more things in an effort to get answers. Also, fired that doc asap,lol