Are Chronic Pain and Mental Health Connected?

There’s no question that your physical and mental health are linked. This connection certainly plays out when it comes to chronic pain and mental health issues like anxiety and depression. 

In fact, 12 million adults in the United States struggle with chronic pain and anxiety or depression symptoms at the same time.

As experts in pain management, our team here at Pain Medicine Consultants has seen the strong connection between chronic pain and mental health struggles firsthand. And making matters more frustrating, the connection goes both ways.

How pain affects your mental health

Let’s face it: Being in pain isn’t exactly a mood booster, and nearly a quarter of the adult population in the US struggles with daily pain. Not only is the pain uncomfortable, but it can limit your life, preventing you from engaging in activities you once enjoyed.

Unfortunately, many of the conditions that lead to chronic pain are irreversible and, worse,  progressive, which means there’s no light at the end of the pain tunnel. Some examples of this are degenerative arthritis, as well as degenerative spine issues.

As a result, your mental health can decline when it intersects with chronic pain. By the numbers, 35%-45% of people with chronic pain also experience depression.

When mental health leads to pain

Going in the other direction, there are many mental health issues that include pain among their symptoms, including:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Bipolar disorder

These conditions often heighten a person’s pain perception, and they can also lead to body-wide aches and pain, as well as headaches.

Treating both sides of the equation for optimal wellness

Given the close connection between chronic pain and mental health, we address both sides of the equation. Even if you don’t have clinical anxiety or depression, being in pain can dampen your mood and make you more anxious.

Whatever your degree of symptoms, we can work together to make you more comfortable, physically and mentally. 

We’ve found that one of the more successful approaches for addressing chronic pain and mental health is through ketamine infusion therapy. Not only does the ketamine work almost immediately to relieve your pain, the drug also encourages healthier neural pathways that get you unstuck from depression or anxiety.

Aside from ketamine infusion therapy, we also offer a wide range of pain management options to put you in a better frame of mind by reducing your discomfort.

So, if you want to free yourself from chronic pain and poor mental health, we invite you to contact us at one of our offices in Pleasant Hill, Corte Madera, or Pleasanton, California, to schedule a consultation today.