A recent study showed that anger and feelings of injustice may be stronger triggers for chronic pain than stress itself.
The study, which involved more than 700 people suffering from chronic pain and focused on the relationship between anger, feelings of injustice and the level of pain experienced by patients, revealed that how patients feel and manage their anger might determine the severity and persistence of pain over the long term.
An international research team, which included researchers from Stanford, Boston and Innsbruck, used a method to analyze underlying patterns to identify anger patterns that vary in how individuals experience, express, and control anger, and how much they felt injustice due to their health condition.
The researchers found that patients who exhibited moderate to high levels of anger and feelings of injustice, like those who felt that their pain represented unfair treatment or a non-compensable loss, reported more severe, widespread pain, higher levels of disability, and psychological distress.
Conversely, those who managed their anger effectively and had a lesser understanding of their condition were more likely to improve over time.
The study leader, Dr. Gadi Gilam, head of the Transitional Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience Lab (tSCAN), states: "Anger is not inherently bad, as it is a natural emotional signal that can enhance a person's well-being when properly regulated. But when combined with feelings of injustice, it can trap individuals in a cycle of psychological and physical suffering that exacerbates chronic pain and makes it persistent."
The impact of the findings on treatment and diagnosis
The researchers confirmed that anger patterns can predict future pain outcomes even after accounting for anxiety and depression. The findings suggest the possibility of using these patterns as early diagnostic markers to identify patients at risk for long-term chronic pain, thereby helping in providing more personalized and focused treatment plans on the emotional aspects.
The study emphasizes the importance of tailored interventions to address emotional regulation and perception of injustice, such as mindfulness-based therapy and emotional expression therapies based on empathy, considering that understanding the multiple aspects of anger represents a crucial step in developing comprehensive care for pain, from treating symptoms to treating the person himself.
