Evidence of the Week: How Hypervigilance and Fear Impact Chronic Pain

I reviewed a research paper titled ‘Fearful thinking predicts hypervigilance towards pain-related stimuli in patients with chronic pain.’

Have a look at the video below to go over in more detail how hypervigilance and fear are big pieces in the production and maintenance of chronic pain and other chronic symptoms.

The authors state in the takeaway from the study: “This study demonstrates that patients with chronic pain have increased attention towards pain-related information, and the fearful thinking about pain was positively correlated with this phenomenon.”

The takeaway for you is you want to do the opposite of what we see happening here so we can teach the brain we are safe. Hypervigilance is caused by fear and fear is built on danger and threat and that is what we working to reduce.