Depression: A Serious Side Effect of Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is something that affects millions of Americans on a daily basis. Chronic pain is pain that has outlived its usefulness. Normally, when a part of your body hurts, it's a signal telling you that something is wrong and needs to be fixed. If you fall and sprain your ankle or break your leg, the associated pain is a signal from the injured area telling you that something is injured, and that pain is what spurs you to take a trip to the doctor to get your injury checked out and fixed. And, after receiving the necessary treatments, and after a recovery period, your injury totally heals and you are pain free. That's how things work in a perfect world! But chronic pain doesn't operate that way. Chronic pain is pain that does not abate. It lasts well after any type of injury or disease or sickness. And it is this type of pain, pain that lingers and pain that becomes a normal adjunct and impediment to a person's daily life, that can have a profound effect on a person's psychological health and predispose said person to a severe depressive disorder.

As a long-time chronic pain sufferer, I know firsthand how devastating psychologically a chronic pain condition can be. Chronic pain impedes and constricts your life and greatly diminishes your functioning. A chronic pain sufferer is not able to do the things that they used to do. They have to avoid things that cause them pain or that aggravate their pain condition. They have to face each and every day knowing full well that their day is going to be overshadowed and clouded by their pain. Going to work, going to school, paying bills, cleaning house, and being a father, mother, or spouse - the normal things of daily life - are going to be much more challenging and tiresome for a chronic pain sufferer. And it doesn't end there!

Normal daily irritations that everyone deals with from time to time - traffic, abrasive people, car problems, financial issues - are going to be that much more irksome and troublesome for a chronic pain sufferer. The pain has a way of amping up and magnifying the slightest irritations and frustrations of everyday life. Chronic pain in and of itself is a tremendous burden to carry, and the normal aggravations and stressors of everyday life just add to the immense weight that a person suffering from chronic pain already has to shoulder. And as a result, it should come as no surprise that many chronic pain sufferers have high rates of depression.

I battle not only chronic pain but also depression on a daily basis. For me, the depression seems to be in equal proportion to the amount of pain that I am experiencing. I definitely notice that on my good days - days in which my pain is at a relative minimum - my mood drastically improves. The world just seems like a much better place. In the absence of pain, the sky seems bluer, the air smells sweeter, and I have a much more positive outlook on life than I do when I'm in the clutches of unrelenting and unremitting pain. But it never lasts!

I realize that these brief intermissions from pain are only temporary, and that the pain will return soon enough. Yes, there is a definite link between mind and body, and when your body hurts - at least for a long enough period of time - your mind starts to hurt as well. As your life becomes more and more restricted and guided by your level of pain and loss of functioning, it's only normal for a person to feel frustrated and helpless. And the more frustrated you feel, and the more helpless you feel, the easier it is to become depressed. Chronic pain robs you of much vitality and optimism in terms of living your life, and the long-term psychological ramifications of this can be extremely detrimental.