Living with chronic pain can be a life-changing journey. If you’re currently in this position, you may have noticed something unsettling along the way. Anxiety seems to make everything feel worse.
When your body is constantly in pain, it’s easy for anxiety to creep in and take control. Once anxiety flares up, it further fuels your pain. The connection between the two creates a vicious cycle.
Understanding this dynamic relationship is the first step in finding real relief.
How Anxiety and Pain Feed Each Other
Your brain processes pain and anxiety in two overlapping regions. If you start to feel anxious, your nervous system kicks into high alert mode, which can amplify pain signals. Similarly, persistent pain can trigger your body’s stress response, creating the perfect storm of discomfort.
Your mind and body can’t fully differentiate physical threats from emotional ones. Anytime you’re worried about something, whether finances or a health ailment, your system responds in the same way. You may feel tension and heightened sensitivity.
Chronic pain can give you anxiety about when it will flare up next, and that anxiety intensifies the pain you currently have.
Where You Feel Pain and Anxiety
Chronic pain and anxiety affect your mental health, but also your physical body. They often show up in specific ways:
Muscle tension that creates headaches, jaw pain, shoulder knots, or back pain
Digestive issues, including nausea, stomach aches, or IBS-like symptoms
Chest tightness that makes it difficult to breathe properly
Widespread body aches that seem to have no clear rhyme or reason
Sleep disruptions that leave you feeling exhausted
These symptoms may make sense or feel totally out of place. Either way, they’re indicative of your nervous system working overtime.
Breaking Free From the Cycle
While you may not be able to heal the chronic pain aspect, thankfully, you can interrupt the cycle between your pain and anxiety. Since they are so intertwined, addressing one often helps reduce the other.
Grounding techniques will help shift your focus back into the present. This is especially helpful when anxiety first starts to flare up. Try engaging your senses using your immediate environment. Often therapists recommend asking yourself “What are five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste?” If this is too much for you, just do one of each and notice how or if your body is responding yet. It takes time.
Breath work is a simple yet effective way to calm your nervous system. If you’re in pain, feeling anxious, or experiencing a combination, it’s natural for your breathing to become shallow and rapid. Deep breathing to slow down your breath rate sends a signal to your brain that it’s safe.
Movement can be a surprising way to assist in pain management. Gentle stretching or walking outside can help release the tension you’re carrying and produce natural pain-relieving endorphins. Find some type of movement that feels manageable for your body and is sustainable in your daily practice.
You Don’t Have to Travel This Journey Alone
Managing anxiety while living with chronic pain can be exhausting. Your system has learned to stay alert as a means of protection, and unlearning these patterns of behavior can take time.
Therapy offers specific guidance and tools meant for this specific challenge. You deserve to feel safe in your own body and have options for finding relief from any worries you’re struggling with. Support is available to you while you work towards healing.
Ready to Find Relief?
If anxiety and chronic pain have been controlling your life, you don’t have to continue working through it alone. Speaking with a compassionate anxiety therapist can help you understand what’s happening in your body, develop healthy coping strategies, and break free from this cycle. Contact me today to learn how I can support you in your journey.