Chronic or acute pain, anxious behavior & depression could be the deadliest combination ever. You just cannot live with it. They feel like killing you from within.
Pain and depression share a bi-directional link, so do depression and anxiety. This makes people wonder if the three of them relate to each other.
It’s often difficult to determine if you’re suffering from this trio. What came first – the pain or the depression? At times, pain and depression create a vicious cycle wherein pain is worsening depressive symptoms and depression worsen the feelings of pain.
On the other hand, depression and anxiety have deep connections. When one is present, the prevalence of another is easily predictable. Similarly, depression and anxiety are being associated with pain severity too. If someone undergoes a prolonged duration of acute pain, increased mood dysregulation is also seen. Before you try your hands on any medications like Etizest, Etilaam let us have a quick overview of what causes the three of them to occur together.
The Links between Pain, Anxiety & Depression
The injury sensory pathways of body pains arise from the same brain regions that regulate & manage mood. They’re the insular cortex, prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, thalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala. Such brain areas together form a histological structural foundation marking the co-existence of pain and depression.
What happens when they overlap?
As mentioned above, they share the same emerging pathways. Thus, depression, anxiety, and pain share the same neurotransmitters aka chemical messengers of the brain. When chronic pain is felt, it also contributes to depression and leads to anxiety.
People undergoing painful mindsets are struggling with an active schedule, get de-socialized, experience lack of sleep, lose focus at the job, etc. They slowly get vulnerable to depression. Depressive conditions keep magnifying pain and decrease their ability to live with it. Staying active is not possible anymore and they start living with anxiety thinking about their degraded conditions. This further leads to mood disorders like insomnia, anger, aggression, low self-esteem, family stress, decreased libido, and more of which does not sound good at all.
However, many researchers agreed that pain, depression, and anxiety happen because of psychological factors, and not due to any biological factors.
Effective anti-anxiety medicines like Etifine are helping to treat short-term anxiety and insomnia. But, any of such treatment options should only be used after consulting the doctor.
What are the treatment options?
Mostly, psychiatrists adopt psychotherapies for treating pain. They may also combine it with drug treatments. We’ll look at both of them here.
Therapies
1. Exercise
Starting simple and easy, exercising is the primary suggestion. When an individual is physically active, it makes a positive impact on their mood and releases anxiety. However, mood regulation does not guarantee if they’ll feel relief from pain too.
2. Relaxation training
Practicing some effective relaxation techniques regulates a good mood. Relieving stress via relaxation techniques does not let anxiety or depression settle in. These techniques include progressive muscle relaxation, yoga, and mindfulness.
3. Hypnosis
Positivity is refuelled during this therapy. It helps the patient achieve a trance-like state by making them confident that the pain will improve. Self-hypnosis is helping depressed people reduce gastrointestinal distress and relieve around 71% of anxiety according to some studies.
4. Cognitive-behavioral therapy
Pain demoralizes and hurts people. Cognitive-behavioral therapy, CBT, is not just effective for treating depression and anxiety but also recognized psychotherapy for relieving pain. The basis of CBT is that thoughts, sensations, and emotions are intertwined. Therapists make patients believe that they can develop skills for managing such emotions and get them under control instead of becoming a victim to them.
Patients can feel better when they’re also using oral medications along with practicing therapies. Such a combined approach can make people feel relieved. Just because some psychiatric medications also act as pain relievers, doctors may suggest Etizolam, if the situation permits. Let’s have a look at some double-duty medications.
Oral Medications
1. Antidepressants
Antidepressants are mostly prescribed to patients suffering from anxiety and depression. They also have a significant contribution in relieving nerve pain. Thus, both psychiatric disorders and pain can be relieved with antidepressants. The oral drugs belonging to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors i.e. SSRIs are found as pain alleviators. Instead of prescribing them, doctors prefer Tricyclic antidepressants or serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors i.e. SNRIs.
However, some moderate side effects like blurred vision, fatigue, dizziness, upset stomach, irregular heartbeat, urinating troubles, etc. can be experienced for the duration your body adjusts to the drug.
2. Mood stabilizers
Also known as anticonvulsants, mood stabilizers are used for mood management. These drugs work by exerting their effects by constraining aberrant electrical activity and hyper-responsiveness in the brain. Such effects contribute to seizures. When the patient feels chronic pain, nerve hypersensitivity is involved. In such cases, mood stabilizer medications may provide relief.
What is the best way for pain, anxiety, and depression management?
The very first thing you should do is approach a pain therapist. Tell them everything you feel & they will suggest a pain management plan that’ll work for you. Stay committed to this plan and you’ll start gaining control over depression and anxiety too.
Follow their instructions and if you’re prescribed antidepressants or anticonvulsants, consume them as prescribed. This will help you see their effectiveness within the estimated time. Slowly and gradually, you’ll start enjoying life.
Find the best cognitive therapist near you today!