> there is an interesting story around chronic pain actually being psychological
I think this is an incorrect oversimplification.
I had a pretty bad accident a year ago and am still dealing with physical therapy and recovery from it. I have spent a lot of last year traveling the land of pain.
It's not that pain (chronic or not) is psychological. It's more that our pyschological state modulates how we experience pain.
If you hit your thumb with a hammer, the pain you feel is absolutely not psychosomatic and entirely in your head. There are real nerves in your hand sending your brain real pain signals.
But if you happen to do that on a day that you're really stressed out, it will hurt worse. And if days after the accident you are still hurting and you find your inner monologue saying things like "See, you hit your thumb because you're such a stupid clutz." then you will experience that pain with greater intensity and for longer than if you had a more positive narrative around the injury.
I think this is an incorrect oversimplification.
I had a pretty bad accident a year ago and am still dealing with physical therapy and recovery from it. I have spent a lot of last year traveling the land of pain.
It's not that pain (chronic or not) is psychological. It's more that our pyschological state modulates how we experience pain.
If you hit your thumb with a hammer, the pain you feel is absolutely not psychosomatic and entirely in your head. There are real nerves in your hand sending your brain real pain signals.
But if you happen to do that on a day that you're really stressed out, it will hurt worse. And if days after the accident you are still hurting and you find your inner monologue saying things like "See, you hit your thumb because you're such a stupid clutz." then you will experience that pain with greater intensity and for longer than if you had a more positive narrative around the injury.