In one European study, up to 20 percent of adults reported suffering from chronic pain lasting up to six months. Twenty percent of these people reported losing their job over their condition.

Craig Hassed, a senior lecturer at Monash University, suggests that one strategy to deal with this widespread issue is to heal the mind as well as the body. In a recent paper in the Australian Family Physician, he claims that mind-body therapies, in conjunction with other treatment, can provide relief that medication alone cannot.

Our experience of pain is not limited to bodily damage. The brain plays a major role in how we process pain messages. One study showed that pain can be governed by as many as seven different brain regions, including those involved with attention, beliefs, conditioning and emotions.

When humans experience emotional distress, the fight or flight instinct kicks in. The brain becomes hyper-vigilant as it assesses whether to face the threat or run.

This reaction is helpful in the event of a mountain lion attack. It can be less helpful when distress is caused by pain. Hyper-awareness will make pain seem more intense. So, while chronic pain can lead to distress, distress can also exacerbate chronic pain.

If pain messages are constantly repeated, the neural loops in the brain become sensitized. The brain learns to maintain that state of hyper-awareness and continues to detect pain even in the absence of tissue damage.

Mind-body therapies seek to alleviate pain by changing a person’s emotional state. In conjunctionwith other therapies, such treatments can have an influence on how the patient perceives and copes with pain.

• Relaxation Response includes therapies such as progressive muscle relaxation, meditation or even laughter. Relaxation enhances the brain’s responsiveness to endorphins, which make us feel happy. It can also reduce inflammation of muscles that have been tensed through stress.
   
• Mindfulness encompasses two different approaches:
  
  1. Shift the patient’s attention away from the pain to soothing stimuli, like rainforest noises.
  
  2. Focus the patient on the pain to habituate them to it.
  
  Both aim to cultivate an acceptance of chronic pain. This might seem counterintuitive but acceptance does not mean “giving in”. Acceptance minimises the emotional reaction to pain so the flight or fight mode is not triggered. Acceptance also prevents avoidance behaviours, such as poor posture, which can lead to additional injuries.
   
• Hypnosis relaxes that patient, and may also change the cognitive patterns that re-play the “feel pain” message. Hypnosis has been shown to improve the pain associated with irritable bowel syndrome for up to five years.
   
• Guided Imagery involves guiding the patient through a soothing scenario, like a trip to the beach. Out of nine clinical trials, eight found that guided imagery reduced the feeling of pain.
   
• Yoga combines physical movements with an emphasis on meditation. One study found that it aided women with childbirth, increasing their satisfaction and coping skills.
   
• Biofeedback is a process by which a person is made aware of their physiological functions and how to control them. For example, a patient is linked to a heart rate monitor and shown how to lower their heart rate. Biofeedback increases physical awareness. It also helps patients recognize and control stress responses to prevent distress from escalating.
   
• Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is a form of psychology that focuses on changing behaviours and negative thought patterns in order to increase mental wellbeing. CBT has been shown to be effective as a treatment for chronic back pain and fibromyalgia.

Donning yoga pants and doing the lotus position may not seem like medical treatment. Increasingly, however, the evidence suggests that a person who feels good mentally may start to improve physically as well.