A study of 735 Fibromyalgia patients, examined their affect (mood), breaking them into four sub-groups and examining the correlation between affect and symptoms.
The four groups were
- Healthy (low negative affect/ high positive affect)
- Depressive (high negative affect / low positive affect)
- Reactive (high negative affect / high positive affect)
- Low (low negative affect / low positive affect)
Definitions:
Negative Affect = negative emotions (sadness, anger, and fear, tension, nervousness, irritability, etc)
Positive Affect = positive emotions (happiness, hopefulness, enthusiasm, determination, etc)
Multiple studies have shown a relationship between affect and pain. Increased negative affect typically results in an increase in pain. Increased positive affect conversely is associated with a decrease in pain. Basically, those who display a more positive affect report fewer symptoms, and lower levels of symptoms.
51% had Depressive Affect Balance Style
12% had Healthy Affect Balance Style
Those with Depressive Affect Balance style had significantly worse Fibro symptoms (including pain, sleep issues, brain fog, etc). Patients with Healthy Affect Balance Style had the least symptoms, followed by those with Low Affect Style.
Overall, it would seem that reducing our negative affect, and working towards being more positive could have an impact on our physical Fibromyalgia symptoms, reducing not only our pain, but also other symptoms.
I know it’s difficult, but it’s something that I’ve really been working on this year. It’s so much easier to be negative, and it’s easy to fall into a negativity trap (it’s a circle of sorts, the more negative you are, the more negative things happen, and the more negative you become). The same circle works for positivity. My focus this year has been on catching myself when I have a negative thought and just stopping. I stop and tell myself that whatever the negative thought was is not true, then I restate the thought in a positive way. Sometimes I have to do this multiple times for the same thought. When I catch myself saying “This is a sucky day.” I stop, I breathe, then I say to myself “This is going to be a great day.” Instead of thinking of school as “hard” I use the word “challenging”, because I can handle a challenge, a challenge can even be fun. But, when I think of something as being hard, then I focus on the negative of the stress that will be created by doing something that is difficult.
Trisha says
Very interesting! I’ll have to remind myself of this the next time I find myself spiraling into negativity.
Julie says
It’s something I’ve had to work really hard to fight (the negativity) but I’ve found it to be worth the effort.
Donna Grant says
It’s so true and I know myself that if I am having a bad day mentally, then I will also have a bad day physically. I know it’s horrible to hear ‘it’s in your head’ but there is some truth to it with regards to the intensity of symptoms. I try not be symptoms focused either because the moment I draw my full attention to my pain is the moment when I feel it most intensely. Instead I stop, close my eyes and focus on breathing slowly and deeply and it’s amazing the difference that simple act makes.
Julie says
I hate to think of it as being “in your head” but more as learning to distract ourselves from the pain rather than focusing on it. It’s too easy to go down the worst case scenario route, like lately when my shoulder has been giving me issues again, I will find myself thinking “oh great there it goes again, now what? Is it going to lock up on me again? Do I have what my brother has? Am I going to need surgery too?…..” And, I have to stop myself and just breath and tell myself that it’s ok, and then think about other unrelated things. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt, it just keeps me from giving it control of my thoughts and my day. Focusing on the pain really does make it hurt worse.
I’m happy to find that others have found that focusing on the positive helps.