There are many non-medication strategies for coping with pain. But who will benefit from which ones? A study I came across recently looked at how to predict who will be helped with guided imagery.
The study tested patients with cancer who had pain levels of 3/10 or greater. They found that those patients with good ability to see things in their minds’ eye – to “image” – had a more positive affect from guided imagery and felt more in control of their pain. Interestingly, it didn’t matter if patients thought guided imagery might help or not - even those who didn’t think it would help got benefit if they could image things in their mind.
So the researchers suggest that testing for imaging ability may be useful to determine whether guided imagery is an appropriate intervention for individual patients.
The study appeared in Pain Management Nursing, Volume 4, September 2003, Pages 112-123, and was authored by Kristine L. Kwekkeboom, Jenn Kneip, and Laura Pearson.
Related articles on guided imagery:
- Guided imagery exercises #1 and #2
- National Pain Foundation interview on guided imagery
3 responses so far ↓
Edward // Jan 16, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Thanks for this post. That’s an interesting study. I would like to add that people can be taught to visualize. I did not think I could create mental imagery when I first started practicing. The more I worked at it the better I got. And of course the more powerful it got.
How to Cope with Pain // Jan 16, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Ed, I agree that these are skills – the more you practice, the better you get at them. Breathing exercises, relaxation, visualization, guided imagery – even hypnosis.
Prof S // Jan 18, 2009 at 11:52 pm
All of these are learned skills but it takes time and lots of practice. Years ago when I had severe tension headaches (blinding pain), I went to a headache clinic and learned visualization and biofeedback. After a while I could literally lower my blood pressure during a headache. I could relax the muscles in my shoulder and next so the spasms went away in 15 minutes. I could “will away” the pain in my head. It was amazing. I got out of practice and I appreciate your article so much because now I’m inspired to put some time in each day to re-learn these techniques.
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