Back pain anxiety is a common emotional ordeal that is suffered by many patients with chronic dorsalgia. Anxiety is created out of fear and uncertainty for one’s own future. Chronic back pain is a condition which robs patients of their functionality, hopes and aspirations. It is no surprise that many patients develop symptom-related and general anxiety after suffering with severe pain for extended periods of time.
Anxiety is known to contribute to a variety of problematic health effects, including high blood pressure, heart disease, depression, malaise and even psychosis. For some patients, the anxiety may be much worse and more life-affecting than the back ache itself.
Causes of Back Pain Anxiety
Back pain is very physically limiting. It can reduce a person’s ability to work, play, love, laugh and attend to responsibilities. These great limitations create feelings of guilt, frustration, inadequacy and fear in the patient’s mind. These emotions are common contributors to anxiety and can create a chronic psychological downward spiral which can lead the patient to some very dark places within their own soul.
Anxiety is a feeling a tremendous fear and insecurity, often experienced for no tangible reason. However, in the case of back pain, the fear is mostly justified. Dorsopathy is a truly debilitating condition which can enslave a patient in a seemingly endless cycle of suffering for years at a time, both mentally and physically.
Extreme Back Pain Anxiety
Serious anxiety conditions might require professional treatment with a psychologist or psychiatrist. It might be wise to consider the former as ideal, since the latter often treat psychoemotional conditions primarily with drugs. The last thing an anxious patient needs is a drug habit on top of all their other health concerns.
Patients with severe anxiety are at a heightened risk for increased bouts of physical pain. They are also at risk to experience panic attacks, hypertension, heart attacks and strokes. Anxiety is a condition which can also lead to other conditions such as OCD, drug abuse, alcoholism and antisocial behaviors.
Guidance on Back Pain Anxiety
Fear is often one of the main causes of anxiety. Back pain patients rightfully fear the future, since their conditions often place them in an abyss of agony. Many patients have unresolved back pain, despite years of unsuccessful attempts at treatment. This was my own reality for 18 long years.
I remember feeling anxiety growing inside of me as I pondered my fate at the cruel hands of my torturous pain. I was actually told by many doctors that my condition would deteriorate to the point where back surgery might be my only viable option. Furthermore, these same doctors often mentioned that surgery might not even do much to help me. I felt darkness invading my thoughts and felt real fear for many years.
What would become of me?
This was the prevailing thought in my mind as I slowly acquiesced to the idea of possible permanent disability. Luckily for me, I was able to turn the condition around and see the light at the end of that long dark tunnel. There is always the hope for a cure for anxiety and back ache.
Above all, it is crucial to have faith in the abilities of the body and the mind to heal. The more you learn about chronic pain and anxiety, the more you will realize that they are 2 common symptoms often connected to the same causative or contributory mindbody process.
