Reducing Physical Pain through Mindfulness

When we experience physical pain, we naturally think of that pain as existing solely in that hurting part of our body. If we have back pain, the problem is in our back. If we have stomach pain, the problem is our stomach. Though true in many ways, our experience of pain is slightly more complex. It is the nerves in our back or stomach that send a signal to our brains and then our brains interpret that signal as pain. Because of this intermediary step in our brains, it is possible for us to exert some influence over how much pain we experience by influencing the way our mind interprets those pain signals from other parts of our body.

A recent study examined how mindfulness might impact our subjective experience of pain. The researchers recruited 200 participants suffering from chronic pain and had them complete measures of mindfulness, experience of pain, emotional intelligence (the ability to recognize, regulate, and cope with one’s emotions), and pain management self-efficacy (our belief and confidence in our ability to cope with our pain). What they found was that those who were more mindful reported experiencing less physical pain, and scored higher on the measures of emotional intelligence and pain management self-efficacy. Upon further analysis, they found that it was the increased emotional intelligence and pain management self-efficacy that led to the relationship between mindfulness and experience of pain. In other words, mindfulness helps us feel more secure about being able to handle our pain and helps us better recognize and regulate our emotions. These two things, in turn, help to reduce our actual experience of physical pain. Researchers note that this relationship between mindfulness and subjective experience of pain could be a purely psychological one, or perhaps this increased capacity to handle or emotions, and belief in our ability to handle pain could prompt us to actually change our behavior in ways that help to minimize the pain.

Keryn Breiterman-Loader

Reducing Our Distress through Mindfulness

As humans, by nature we deal with distressing events. We experience loss - of loved ones, a job, of how things used to be. We get sick and hurt. We feel alone. We are confused about how to live a good life. The human experience is strewn with struggles, and so how we relate to these struggles can shape the experience and quality of our lives. Many of us often feel overwhelmed by distress. Others of us, afraid of becoming overwhelmed, try and hide by getting defensive or denying our experience. Though these are common reactions, they usually don’t support us in effectively processing our negative experience and moving forward to making wise decisions about what to do next and how we want to live going forward. Much psychological research investigates just this question of how to most skillfully relate to our distress.

A recent research study investigated how mindfulness impacts our ability to tolerate and deal with distress. Participants recruited from the general community were randomly split into either a mindfulness training group or a wait list control group (in which participants were only given mindfulness training after the completion of the study). Over the four weeks of the mindfulness training program, researchers found that those in the mindfulness group reported less emotional distress than those in the control group. Interestingly, there was no difference found in participants’ reports of their discomfort tolerance. This suggests that mindfulness doesn’t change the discomfort people experience around negative events, but rather it changes how distressing that discomfort is. In other words, we can be hurt and feel the pain, and mindfulness won’t change the fact that we’re having a painful experience. Mindfulness will, however, help to reduce all the narratives and judgments about how terrible the pain is, so that this negative experience is no longer so overwhelming and distressing. We can then accept the experience for what it is and move forward.

Keryn Breiterman-Loader

Mindfulness and Cognitive Bias

As much as we’d like to believe, our minds don’t process information in an objective and rational fashion. Extensive research reveals that we have many cognitive biases, in which our minds have a natural propensity to process information in a particular and biased way. A simple example is the negativity bias, where we tend to notice and remember negative events much more than positive ones (sound familiar?). Another bias is the sunk-cost bias, in which, if we have already devoted time, energy, money, etc. to something, we tend to feel compelled to keep on going and investing in that cause, even if we would be better off just moving on and not wasting any more of our resources. Sometimes these biases exist because they haven proven useful, but sometimes in our modern day it can be useful to overcome them (ex. pulling out of a bad investment or project, not wasting our calories on finishing a dessert that we really don’t like).

In a series of 3 studies, researchers at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and collaborators at INSEAD examined how mindfulness influences our susceptibility to this sunk-cost bias. In their first correlational study, they discovered a positive relationship between trait mindfulness and resistance to the sunk-cost bias. The next study found that a mindfulness meditation induction led people to experience greater resistance to the sunk-cost bias. Why does mindfulness lead to this decreased susceptibility to the sunk-cost bias? The third experiment showed that it was due in part to how mindfulness shifts our attention from focusing on the past and the future to focusing more on the present moment, and in part due to how mindfulness reduces our negative emotions. So if you ever find yourself thinking “well, I’ve already come this far, I should really just stick it out…” take a moment of mindfulness and see if maybe, just maybe, it might be better to cut your losses, move on, and never look back at that terrible chocolate cake.

Keryn Breiterman-Loader

The Relationship between Mindfulness, Stress, and Alcohol

We all experience stress in our lives and how we deal with that stress can have a significant impact on our physical and psychological health and wellbeing. Research on mindfulness has indicated that mindfulness practices are helpful in improving coping with stress as well as in reducing alcohol consumption.

A recent study explored this further by investigating participants’ dispositional levels of mindfulness, as well as their drinking behavior and stress. The study found that participants who were more mindful experienced less stress and drank less alcohol. Additionally, they found that for participants low in mindfulness, high stress was associated with greater alcohol consumption. However, what is most interesting is that for participants high in mindfulness, high perceived stress was not associated with greater alcohol consumption. This indicates that mindfulness may be an effective way to help cope with stress, and in doing so help reduces alcohol use.

Keryn Breiterman-Loader