If you are in pain, you are probably all too familiar with the stress, overwhelm, frustration, and other difficult emotions that can go along with it. Pain can be all-consuming and completely debilitating, and it can affect all areas of your life.
Unfortunately, many people who experience pain find themselves in a vicious cycle. You see, pain contributes to stress and difficult emotions, but stress and difficult emotions can also contribute to pain. This cycle can be hard to find your way out of – but hope is possible!
Researchers now know that when we actively address the links between pain, stress, and emotions, we have the power to break free and finally find relief.
Let’s take a closer look at the connections between pain, stress, and emotions, and learn how the power of Tapping can help you to better manage or even eliminate your pain.
It is not uncommon for people with pain to experience stress or mental health concerns, and the same is true vice versa.
The overlaps between stress, emotional experiences, and pain are well documented in the scientific research. For example:
And that’s just a small sampling of the data. Many different studies show strong correlations between painful conditions and stress, depression, anxiety, and difficult emotions.[5]
We’ve all experienced pain at some point in our lives, and we all know how distressing it can be to be in pain. Especially when pain is very severe or long-lasting, it can take a major toll on your mental and emotional state.
So, it’s not surprising that pain can lead to stress or difficult emotions in a person’s life and even contribute to conditions like anxiety or depression.
But what you might not realize is that the opposite is also true. While pain can contribute to stress, stress can also be a major contributor to pain. In fact, body aches and pains (like headaches, back pain, and neck pain) are some of the most well-known physical symptoms of emotional stress.[6]
There are several different ways in which stress and emotional states can influence our physical body and lead to pain.
For example, when we are under stress our muscles tense up, which over time can lead to significant pain.[7] The experience of stress and strong negative emotions also activates the stress response in the body, which in turn can trigger things like inflammation.[8] In addition, there are many other biological processes and chemical pathways that link stress and emotions to pain.[5,9]
As we’ve learned already, there are strong links between stress, emotions, and physical pain.
But it’s not just the obvious emotions that we have big reactions to that can influence pain. Researchers are also finding that the feelings we deny, push away, or hide can also be problematic when it comes to pain.
Often, it can feel easier, better, and even safer to avoid a hard emotion instead of fully experiencing it. And while this is an understandable reaction to life’s many challenges (and an extremely common one at that), experts are beginning to learn more and more about how unresolved and repressed emotions affect the body.
When we avoid or push our emotions away and don’t let ourselves feel them, it can actually result in physical effects. Repressed emotions appear to be a barrier to good health and may even shorten our lifespans.[10,11]
One of the risks of suppressing our emotions is increased pain. In fact, inappropriate emotional regulation is a risk factor for developing chronic pain.[12] Emotional suppression, and the desire to express an emotion but failing to do so, has been linked to more severe pain.[13,14] Holding back emotions is also linked to worry, rumination, and helpless feelings regarding pain.[13]
Essentially, the more we avoid and push away our feelings, the more likely we are to experience pain.
What is important to understand about emotional suppression and pain is that it’s not just the big stuff and the major life stressors that are important; the little stuff can make an impact on our health too. Studies suggest that even lingering negative emotions from minor daily stressors can impact our health a decade later.[15]
But the good news is that when we address and express our emotions (whether from big life events or small daily hassles, whether from the past or the current day), we have the power to improve our health and find relief from symptoms like pain.
As we’ve covered so far, it is clear that stress and emotions can contribute to and exacerbate physical pain. But there is great news to be found here; by empowering yourself with this information, you can take charge of the healing process and support your body in breaking free from pain.
Researchers have found time and time again that strategies that help people to reduce stress and accept, express, reappraise, and manage emotions can help them to reduce pain and improve their ability to function.[7,10,13,16-18]
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), emotional awareness training, acceptance-based therapies, stress-reduction techniques, and relaxation strategies are all effective in reducing pain, reducing muscle tension, improving mood, and improving function in people with chronic pain.[7,16,17,19]
Ultimately, researchers believe that people who are able to authentically express and manage their feelings are also able to find more relief from discomfort and pain.[10,19]
I encourage you to take that information in for a moment. There is a whole bunch of evidence showing that when you learn to manage stress and emotions, you can find significant relief from pain and discomfort. How inspiring and hopeful is that?
It is possible to break free from your pain. And luckily, you can fill your toolbox with a variety of therapies, practices, and tools to help you on this journey to pain relief.
If you are looking for a safe, inexpensive, effective technique that has amazing results when it comes to relieving pain, then you’ll want to give Tapping a try. That’s because Tapping is designed to help you address and release emotions and stressors, like the ones that may be connected to your pain.
Tapping helps us to calm down the brain, release stress, and let go of pent-up emotions. As a result, Tapping helps the brain to relax and to turn down signals that lead to difficult symptoms like pain in our bodies.[20-22] Just as an example, research has shown Tapping to decrease the stress hormone cortisol that can trigger inflammation.[20]
Interested in learning more about the science behind Tapping? Go here.
Now every person is unique, and so is their pain. And there aren’t any broad promises that can be made about how Tapping will work for you. But I can tell you that I have seen the powerful effects of Tapping for pain over and over again in my career.
In addition to all the personal experiences I’ve witnessed throughout the years, there’s also a whole body of research that supports the use of Tapping for pain relief.
Studies have shown it to help reduce pain in veterans with PTSD, healthcare workers, the general public, and people with chronic back pain, fibromyalgia, and “frozen shoulder” syndrome for example.[23-28]
And Tapping isn’t just helpful for the symptom of pain itself. Tapping has also been shown to help people feel more in control of their pain, cope better, and find relief from the psychological effects linked to pain such as stress, anxiety, and depression.[23,29]
So, whether you are looking for instant pain relief, are hoping to address stress or frustration over your symptoms, or want to help your brain and body relax so that you can restore your health from the inside out – Tapping can support you.
Tapping is a simple, easy technique that you can learn to do from the comfort of your own home whenever you need to relax, find peace, release emotions or thoughts, and get relief from physical symptoms.
If you are new to Tapping, don’t worry. We’ve gathered all the resources you need within the Tapping Solution App to help you learn the basics, get started, and begin to break free from your pain.
In the app, you’ll find Tapping meditations that can help you to:
Our 5-Day Pain Relief Challenge is a great place to start. In this challenge, you’ll learn more about the connections between stress and pain, release emotions you might be suppressing about your pain, and explore how Tapping can help you to reduce or eliminate your pain.
Remember, you have the power to break the cycles of pain, stress, and difficult emotions in your life. Healing is possible, and you can break free!
Head to the app now to get started.
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