New research on chronic pain indicates that the issue with chronic pain might not be how bad the pain is, but rather how severely it impacts someone’s quality of life.
For years, researchers have known that there is a relationship between those that have chronic pain and poor mental health. And this makes a lot of sense, right? Someone who is experiencing pain all the time is likely to struggle when it comes to things like their emotional well being. What researchers haven’t been able to figure out is the precise nature of this relationship. This new research helps get us one step closer to understanding the interactions between pain and mental health.
This research came from Edith Cowan University in Australia. The team found that flexibility is a big key toward improved mental health outcomes for those that experience chronic pain. Because of pain, many people have issues getting through day to day tasks, such as keeping a job or household tasks. Pain can interfere with these things, and when they do, it can have a bigger impact on someone’s mental health than someone who experiences more intense pain, but doesn’t have their daily lives impacted.
Each person’s situation is different and pain can impact different people in different ways. But this study found that the general trend was that pain interference hurt people mentally more than pain severity.
Luckily, there are ways to help combat this. Things like therapy, physical therapy, exercise, and other methods have the potential to help people deal with pain and go about their daily lives with a little bit more normalcy. If you or a loved one are struggling with pain, please reach out to a doctor. They will be able to give you more precise directions on how you can help to overcome pain that you might be experiencing.
There are a large variety of reasons why someone might require the assistance of a professional caregiver. Mental health issues tend to go hand in hand with other health issues, as this current piece of research indicates. However, mental health issues don’t necessarily need to accompany physical health issues. And a physical health issue doesn’t need to be present in order for mental health issues to exist.
Past research has indicated that there are three overarching methods of treating depression that have a track record of being effective. These include counseling, antidepressants, and exercise. Working with a team that can help to bring these things into your life with more reliability can go a long way toward improving mental health.
That’s one of the benefits of in-home care. In-home care brings assistance to you, rather than you relocating to get the help you need.
If you’re interested in learning more about how in-home care can help you or a loved one, we’d be happy to talk more. We offer a free consultation session that’s designed for this. We can answer questions and help you go over your options. We can also help you get pointed in the right direction. Give us a call to get started. We’d love to be part of your team.
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