- Anne-Marie Mougeot
What is the Biopsychosocial Model and what does it have to do with pain?
How do you think about pain? ๐ค ๐ญ โฃ
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๐ฆต๐พ ๐ฅ Does it make you think of a purely physical problem, or have you ever considered that there might be other factors that can influence our experience of pain?โฃ
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It was previously thought that the process of pain was a fairly linear model where the body and the mind functioned separately. Simply put, pain was believed to be a result of stimulus to a nerve that conveyed information to the brain about potential tissue damage and that was pretty much it. โฃ
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We now know that we actually experience ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐น๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ผ๐น๐ผ๐ด๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น, ๐ฝ๐๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ผ๐ด๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐, which is referred to as the ๐๐ช๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ด๐บ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ. โฃ
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Pain is by itโs very definition โ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆโ where the suffering component of pain is an emotional response which could be triggered by nociception (the neural process of encoding noxious stimulus) or by some other adverse event associated with it, such as fear or depression (psychological processes). โฃ
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Think about how pain makes you feel and behave. Avoiding activities or exercises out of fear of injury is part of psychological processing. We also know that our environment and various social factors can influence our experience of pain, for example, otherโs reactions or the way they treat us may, in turn, influence the way we feel.โฃ
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The various processes involved in pain speak to the complexity of it all, but are also very interesting as it provides us with many options on how to go about managing pain.โฃ
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Next time you experience pain, check in to see:โฃ
โข what emotions might be presentโฃ
โข how do otherโs reactions or words impact the way you feel? (Including your healthcare providers) โฃ
โข what do you believe is causing your pain and how does that make you feel?โฃ
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These observations can be helpful to understand why, in the case of persistent pain, some days might be more or less painful than others. โฃ
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