As you may be aware, pain can affect the way we think, feel and behave, this can also have an impact on our pain. Which is why we look at ways to manage our thoughts, feelings and behaviours. From the ‘learning about pain’ section you may be aware that our mind effects our body and our body effects our mind. An example of this can be, if we are stressed because our condition is making it harder to juggle family, work or home life this can often manifest into stress. The added stressors of life that pain can cause include fatigue, muscle tension, sleep problems, stress, anxiety, depression, fear, guilt, low mood, unworthy and low self-confidence. All of which are not helpful to any one, as they can ‘wind up’ our pain system. If we can use resources to catch negative thoughts or learn how to communicate your needs, for example, you may be able to start to reserve energy to use in a positive way.

In the ‘building a healthy lifestyle’ category we learnt about strategies to improve our physical wellbeing, and in this category we provide information to help you develop skills to enhance your emotional and psychological well-being.