Psychiatrist Shares How Simple Mindset Shifts Can Reduce Chronic Pain

Psychiatrist Links Brain Health to Chronic Pain Management in New Research

Chronic pain can be debilitating and frustrating, especially for aging adults who often struggle to find effective long-term relief. Recent research, however, suggests that the solution may lie not just in treating the body, but in retraining the brain.

Dr. Daniel Amen, a California-based psychiatrist and founder of Amen Clinics, has dedicated his career to studying how brain function affects chronic pain. His findings, detailed in his new book “Change Your Brain, Change Your Pain,” reveal that persistent pain becomes a neurological issue when it continues beyond three weeks.

“Many people don’t know that chronic pain doesn’t just live in the joints, the knees or the back,” Amen explained in a recent interview. “If it’s been around for more than three weeks, it is now living in your brain. There are actually circuits in your brain that feel pain. They feel both physical pain and emotional pain.”

This neurological component explains why some medications designed to treat depression are FDA-approved for chronic pain management. According to Amen, these medications target the same neural circuits responsible for both emotional and physical pain responses.

“The healthier your brain is, the less physical pain and emotional pain you’ll be in,” he noted, though he emphasized this doesn’t mean patients are imagining their discomfort. Rather, it suggests that when the brain—an organ like any other—functions abnormally in certain areas, rebalancing neural activity can reduce pain signals throughout the body.

Amen describes what he calls the “doom loop” in his research: chronic pain activates suffering circuits in the brain, which then trigger negativity and muscle tension, followed by unhealthy coping mechanisms. “It gets you into a spiral… Your brain is out of control,” he said. “Which means if you have back pain, all the muscles around that inflamed area are clamping down and making you hurt even more.”

This understanding of pain as both a physical and neurological phenomenon suggests a more comprehensive treatment approach. “It doesn’t mean you won’t need surgery—it just means it’s going to be a lot more effective if you get your back and your brain working together,” Amen explained.

The connection between emotions and physical pain forms another critical component of Amen’s research. Drawing from the work of rehabilitation physician and chronic pain expert Dr. John Sarno, Amen suggests that pain often manifests as a symptom of repressed emotions, particularly anger.

“Repressed emotions have to go somewhere, and they in fact go to the pain circuits in your brain that can then activate back pain, knee pain, neck pain,” he said.

For those dealing with chronic pain, Amen recommends first assessing brain health and exploring the emotional significance of pain. “Ask yourself, ‘What does the pain mean to you?'” he suggested, noting that many patients’ primary concern is losing their independence and mobility.

To address underlying emotional factors, Amen recommends a practice he calls “emotional freedom.” This involves journaling about each five-year period of one’s life, documenting both positive experiences and moments of distress or trauma. “You really get a sense of where these repressed emotions could be,” he explained.

The mind-body approach to pain management represents a significant shift from traditional treatments that focus solely on physical interventions. While medication and surgery remain important tools, Amen’s research suggests that maintaining a positive outlook and addressing repressed emotions can significantly reduce chronic pain by calming overactive neural circuits.

As the medical community continues to explore the complex relationship between brain function and physical symptoms, this integrated approach offers new hope to the millions of Americans suffering from chronic pain conditions that have proven resistant to conventional treatments.