Which came first; the pain or the depression?
Pain is depressing.
Depression causes & intensifies pain.
People with chronic pain have three times the normal risk of developing psychiatric symptoms (usually anxiety or mood disorders) and depressed patients have the same increased risk of developing chronic pain!
Because low energy, insomnia and hopelessness resulting from depression or anxiety exacerbates physical pain it can be impossibel to tell where one set of symptoms leaves and the other begins and even makes it hard to tell which set of symptoms came first. Depression makes pain difficult to treat and pain slows a recovery from depression so it makes sense to treat both pain & depression so they are more apt to cease together.
Researchers have decided that because the brain has a shut-off mechanism; it can stop signals of physical discomfort so we only concentrate on the external events in the world. When this mechanism is broken, pain is more likely to become the center of attention. This is because the pathways that handle pain signals use the same neurotransmitters that are involved in the regulation of mood!
When the pathways begine malfunctioning, pain intensifies along with sadness, hopelessness and anxiety. Both chronic pain & chronic depression take root in the nervous system and this leads to depression & pain perpetuating themselves.
Thankfully, in some pain rehabilitation centers, there are specialists who will treat both pain and depression at the same time using techniques such as progressive muscle relaxation, hypnosis and meditation. Doctors can prescribe pain medications as well as a variety of psychiatric drugs. By relieving anxiety, fatigue and/or insomnia, most drugs used in psychiatric care can serve as a pain medication.
Overall, no one knows whether pain comes before depression or depression before pain, but knowing that they exsist together and can be treated together helps sufferers greatly.
January 27th, 2007 at 11:19 am
i believe the interpretation comes first and then the pain.
when the pain is repressed, not addressed, not acknowledged, denied, it eventually rears its ugly head and becomes depression.