Meditation in chronic pain management
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Meditation and chronic pain management
The provision of medication is one of the most diverse practices in the world, which varies depending on the community, religion, society, and the level of development in that particular tribe. One specific condition affecting the health of an individual could be having more than one ten forms of treatment in one society and have a completely different treatment or management in another world. Pain is a mechanism that is to protect the body from harm and danger when the body is traumatized or infected. One of the conditions that have varied ways of treatment and management is chronic pain. Some of the ways that pain gets managed by health practitioners in different communities include pain-relieving medicines, which is common in many conventional hospitals in the world today. The treatment entails the intake of pain relievers, which can be in the form of an injection of a tablet. The other methods are physical therapies applied at the area of pain, and it involves practices such as massaging of the field of pain, application of cold and heat packs at the site of pain, frequent exercising as well as hydrotherapy. Furthermore, there is also the body and mind techniques used in the treatment of anxiety, and good examples of such methods are acupuncture, which is widely practiced in Asian communities such and china and japan. Other people have gone a notch higher into using occupational therapies in the management of pain. In this pain management strategy, the patients get encouraged to engage in activities they want and those that make them happy and satisfied, and at the end of the day, it relieves pain for them. Some therapies are psychological (involve the mind and cognition) in nature. Good examples of these techniques include meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy, and relaxation strategies. Many people are now using meditation as a way of relieving pain, and they are getting varied results, with many people getting relieved of chronic pain (Ellis, 2017). In this paper, we shall discuss the use of meditation in pain management, its pros and cons, and whether it should be used in the treatment of pain or it’s too religious.
Meditation is a practice that has gotten applied for many years by many cultures in the world for mental health as well as therapeutic procedures such as pain management. It is the process of using various techniques to develop a state of consciousness where there is a shift in how the thoughts and emotions are relating, resulting in increased perspective, clarity, objectivity, and patience. According to history, meditation has been in practice for over 3000 years since the inception of Indian yoga, and it has developed to become one of the core disciplines of many religions in the world. The practice of meditation is widespread in religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and many traditions such as Neoconfucian traditions as well as Chinese Taoist. Even though other faiths such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have also applied the practice, but it did not gain a lot of popularity seen in other religions. Today the method has gotten adopted in many countries of the western world as a mind-body treatment intervention as well as a spiritual practice. The types of meditation getting practiced in today’s world can get categorized into three; focused attention, open monitoring, and effortless process. These types of meditation are after the various religious meditation types, which are Hindu meditation, which entails mantra meditation, transcendental meditation, yoga, chakra meditation, and gazing meditation. There is also the Buddhist meditation which involves mindful meditation, and even Zen meditation. There is also the Chinese meditation which entails Taoist meditation and Qigong meditation (Hanh, 2016). Other types of meditation are Christian meditation, Sikhism meditation, Parsi meditation, and guided meditation that entails relaxation and body scans as well as imagery meditation.
According to research, meditation plays an essential role in the management of pain in patients because of its pros, which are absent in other chronic pain management practices such as the use of painkillers and physical therapies like massaging and application of heat and cold packs at the site of pain. One of the most significant pros of pain management is that it helps to rewire the mind’s pain circulation process. According to psychological studies, when an individual anticipates pain, the brain programs neuronal pathways, and in a short time, the anticipation of pain leads to the development of more pain. Meditation comes in between and rewires the brain to anticipate happiness and peace, which then gets programmed in the neuronal pathways (Livni, 2019). This way, meditation prevents and reduces stress and anxiety, which could have triggered more pain because when the brain focuses, then there is no time to worry about pain. Besides, meditation improves an individual’s sense of well-being and the overall psychological functioning through the improvement of the anterior cingulate cortex of the brain. Meditation is also essential in pain management because it assists in detaching pain emotionally. When an individual is in experiencing pain, there is a lot of stress that occurs. To reduce pin, an individual needs to relax and eventually reduce stress, which usually increases pain. Meditation plays the role of emotionally detaching an individual from pain because during meditation, the mind focuses on meditation and eliminates negative thoughts. In some sense, an individual resists the fact that he or she is in pain. During meditation, a person lets go of his or her emotional reactions to pain and becomes a passive observer of the brain since suffering due to illness is not in focus. The other advantage of meditation in pain management is that meditation helps the body to produce hormones that function like pain killers. If an individual applies reflection as a pain management method, he or she does not need to take pain killers because the body naturally releases pain-killing hormones such as endorphins. Endorphins work like convention pain killers such as morphine and oxycodone because it assists in blocking the perception of pain. Meditation does this through binding the receptors of opioids in the brain, which at the end of the day, makes an individual not to realize that it’s in pain. The regular release of endorphins through meditation not only eases chronic pain but also creates pleasure and satisfaction. The other merit of the application of meditation as a pain management strategy is that it improves the tolerance of pain in arthritic pain, chronic pain, acute pain, migraine pain, and even in experimental pain. The increased understanding enables an individual to reduce the effect that comes from experiencing pain in the body, which is fundamental in pain management since the body tends to assume most of the pain. Besides the fact that meditation is a religious procedure in many religions as discussed above, it helps in reducing pain and anxiety, which leads to physiological stress and the eventual physiological disruptions, which lead to increased pain (Banth and Ardebil, 2015). With the reduced anxiety since the meditation relates the psychological, physiological, and spiritual aspects of an individual, there is reduced pain in the body of the person undertaking in meditation.
To cement confidence in the application of meditation in relieving chronic pain in patients are the results from a study that got conducted by the national center for complementary and integrative health (Sampaio et al., 2017). The results from the study demonstrated that mindfulness meditation was fundamental in working on various pain pathways in mind and that opioids were not the only way of relieving pain. The research was working on cognitive-based pain-relieving approaches such as hypnosis, acupuncture, and other distraction techniques and then comparing them to the conventional chemical pain killers sold in the chemists. The study got prompted by the fact that previous studies indicated positive results on pain reduction due to mindfulness meditation, but no substantial studies had gotten done on it. The study got conducted in the wake forest Baptist laboratory, which was fundamental in eliminating outside influences such as lighting, burnt incense, room lighting, and even music. This way, the results would surely be out of meditation. The people were to close their eyes and relax for 20 minutes. To also determine if endorphins got produced during the meditation, some of the participants got injected with naloxone, which blocks the effects of opioids, which reduce pain. The control group for the experiment was individuals that did not meditate but got naloxone or placebo saline injections. At the end of the test, the results showed that the meditation group had a significant reduction in pain, while those that did not meditate showed increased levels of pain (Hwang et al., 2017). According to the results from the research, its pain got reduced by up to 21% even though there were injections of naloxone, which reduced endorphins production. This result indicates that meditation can be essential in the management of pain in individuals. The results of the study were critical in adding to the body of evidence which supports the fact that there is some uniqueness with how meditation works to reduce pain. The study’s results were essential, especially to people who have developed some tolerance to opiate-based medicines due to frequent uptake and addiction because such persons have gotten a better alternative to their condition (Zgierska et al., 2016). According to the researches, through meditation there is a reduction in the levels of epinephrine and cortisol in the body and a subsequent increase in the levels of serotonin. There is also an increase in the gamma-aminobutyric acid levels that are linked to anti-depression and relaxation. These aspects reduce pain because there is an eventual increase in natural killer cells.
Despite the fact that meditation has shown positive results when it comes to the management of chronic pain in most of the patients that take it up as a pain management strategy some setbacks are associated with it that at times make it hard to become a pain management therapy (Hilton et al., 2017). Some of the cons of applying meditation in chronic pain management include the occurrence of a negative effect on the patient’s emotions resulting in increased anxiety and anger. Meditation entails the connection of an individual’s internal space, and an individual can release varying mental blockages and feelings depending on what had gotten stored in the individual’s interior space. For instance, if an individual had gone through a traumatizing event in his or her own life, which led to a lot of grief there are chances that that individual may bring up those emotions during meditation. According to research, many patients who had experienced rejection, abandonment, and rape ended up sobbing and crying because during the meditation they released their hidden memories. The release of these hidden memories can bring about stress in an individual, which at the end of the day, results in increased pain.
The other hindrance of the application of meditation as a pain management therapy is the evidence of the occurrence of guilt, grandiosity, destructive behavior like suicide, and even uncomfortable kinesthetic sensations. Research has shown that individuals tend to develop negative feelings from unprocessed mental events during meditation. The current lives of many human beings are busy, and they hardly have time to process many things that are happening in their lives, leading to the development of a lot of unprocessed files in their minds. Meditation, especially in very quiet out of the city retreats, slows down their thoughts and lives, giving them time to process those unprocessed files in their minds (Cebolla et al., 2017). Out of this process comes out stored mental and emotional issues, and if no help gets accorded, then no good can come out of that meditation program. Instead, there is the development of stress, which affects the overall process of pain management in those patients.
The other reason as to why meditation cannot be a pain management therapy to all patients is that it is annoying. Imagine having to sit down at a lonely place, quite for about 20-30 minutes meditating. Many individuals can opt to take tablets that they can take, and they can do other activities instead of having to sit down and meditate. To people who want to relax and increase their mental health, it can be good practice for them, but for persons experiencing extricating pain, then it can be annoying to them.
Meditation is quite a time-wasting when compared to other pain management strategies such as physical therapies like massages and hot or cold packs or even the ingestion of tablets to relieve pain. When meditation gets used in pain management, the patient has to get involved in meditation for a couple of sessions for them to achieve results because a single session is not enough. Therefore, using this strategy makes a person to spare time for the session; time that would have gotten used in other activities. Meditation is not always the best prescription for chronic pain patients because it requires a practitioner who makes it expensive. Meditation requires an individual to book a meditation session with a practitioner who will charge a fee for the service, and at times individuals have to visit the practitioners at their place of work, which increases the expenses. In case the patient requires more sessions, then it will be more costly. This aspect is absent in other medications such as the intake of medicines and even physical therapies such as massages, which are not time-consuming and hence not expensive.
The other fact that makes it hard to prescribe meditation as a therapy for chronic pain is that it does not usually suit individuals who are extroverts. Extroverts are outgoing and like it when things are moving, and hence it will be challenging for them to get subject for sessions were even moving your hand to scratch your head is considered an offense (Menezes & Bizarro, 2015). However, the therapy could be appropriate for individuals who are introverts because they do not mind having time alone with little going on in their environment. Therefore for extroverts, it will be essential that they get prescribed other forms of treatment of pain rather than meditation because it does not suit their behavior and trait.
Having studied and understood what meditation is, the types of meditation, and its pros and cons, there comes a heated debate on whether meditation should get prescribed to chronic pain patients to manage the pain or it’s a practice that is too religious? Many people argue that meditation is also sacred and hence cannot or should not get prescribed to patients with chronic pain as a pain management procedure to avoid getting people absorbed into a religion which they do not prescribe to. This aspect is primarily as a result of the fact that most of the techniques and practices of meditation have a background of religion. Hence, an individual could be practicing a particular religion’s rituals unknowingly. One of the methods used in meditation sessions that has a link to religion is the practice of breath meditation and recollections of thoughts. These practices are prevalent in many Buddhist schools, and their basis is present in the Buddhist texts. According to the Buddhist religion, the exercises are pathways to nirvana and enlightenment, which are fundamental in attaining a state of insight and serenity.
Meditation techniques also borrow a lot of practices from the Hindu religion, which advocates for the practice of yoga techniques, which are widely practiced in most meditation sessions. According to the Hindu religion, meditation through yoga is a fundamental practice that enables n individual to prepare him or herself for self-realization. One of the yoga practices used in meditation states that the eight limbs of aloneness are rules, postures, and discipline, and breath control, one-pointedness of mind, sense withdrawal, self-realization, and meditation. In most of the yoga sessions practiced today, even those in pain management therapies, these principles form their basis. There is also the aspect of moksha in Hinduism, which is a state of being calm and intensely concentrated within oneself, which is practiced in meditation as well. Hence there is a question of whether practicing yoga and individual could be practicing the Hindu religion unknowingly.
Some of the other practices that many people practice in meditation sessions include insight, concentration, and visualization, which are necessary for the Chinese Taoism religion. In Taoism, the followers visualize the lunar and solar essences within themselves to improve their health and lengthen their lives. In the same faith, there is the breath control meditation as well as the enlargement and relaxation of the brain to achieve the qi cultivation (Eifring, 2016). The sitting and forgetting meditation practices ask of an individual to mentally remove his or her limbs and general existence resulting in a Transform Thoroughfare. This aspect is similar in modern therapeutic meditation, where the practitioners ask their patients to imagine that there is no pain and anything in the environment to relieve them of their pain.
Using the above evidence, many people can argue that meditation borrows too much from religions and hence making the people practicing it to at the same time practice that particular religion. Many of the followers of the Christian and Islamic religions that hold to the beliefs of their faith are likely to get offended when they learn that amid meditation, they also engaged in the practices of another religion. However, from the evidence presented from above its crystal clear that meditation can play a fundamental role in reducing chronic pain especially in patients who have exhausted the conventional tablets due to addiction as well as to the patients who would love to try therapies that are clean and don’t involve a lot of physicalities (Ellis, 2017). Meditation experts say that even though meditation has a long history as being a religious practice, it does not have to be necessarily in a spiritual nature. An individual who does not wish to have a religious meditation can still practice it. Instead of focusing on the connection to deities and improving the individual’s spirituality, the person can shift the focus to clear his or her mind and relieve stress and pain. This way, meditation can get prescribed as a therapy for chronic pain. This part is the beauty of meditation. Meditation is what you make of it.
References
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Cebolla, A., Demarzo, M., Martins, P., Soler, J., & Garcia-Campayo, J. (2017). Unwanted effects: Is there a negative side of meditation? A multicentre survey. PloS one, 12(9).
Eifring, H. (Ed.). (2016). Asian Traditions of Meditation. University of Hawaii Press.
Ellis, A. (2017). The place of meditation in cognitive-behavior therapy and rational-emotive therapy. In Meditation (pp. 671-673). Routledge.
Hanh, T. N. (2016). The miracle of mindfulness: An introduction to the practice of meditation. Beacon Press.
Hilton, L., Hempel, S., Ewing, B. A., Apaydin, E., Xenakis, L., Newberry, S., … & Maglione, M. A. (2017). Mindfulness meditation for chronic pain: systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 51(2), 199-213.
Hwang, K., Kwon, A., & Hong, C. (2017). A preliminary study of new positive psychology interventions: Neurofeedback-aided meditation therapy and modified positive psychotherapy. Current Psychology, 36(3), 683-695.
Livni, E. (2019, June 17). The benefits of meditation when you’re sick or in pain. Retrieved from https://qz.com/1645160/how-to-meditate-when-youre-sick-or-in-pain/
Menezes, C. B., & Bizarro, L. (2015). Effects of a brief meditation training on negative affect, trait anxiety and concentrated attention. Paidéia (Ribeirão Preto), 25(62), 393-401.
Sampaio, C. V. S., Lima, M. G., & Ladeia, A. M. (2017). Meditation, health and scientific investigations: review of the literature. Journal of religion and health, 56(2), 411-427.
Zgierska, A. E., Burzinski, C. A., Cox, J., Kloke, J., Stegner, A., Cook, D. B., … & Bačkonja, M. (2016). Mindfulness meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy intervention reduces pain severity and sensitivity in opioid-treated chronic low back pain: pilot findings from a randomized controlled trial. Pain Medicine, 17(10), 1865-1881.