How new understandings of pain could set you free

A look at the Mind-Body connection in Chronic Pain

If you’ve been living with chronic pain for more than three months—or even for years—you are not alone. Around 1 in 4 people in the UK live with ongoing pain, and it’s especially common among women and older adults.

But here’s the game-changer: New discoveries in neuroscience are completely changing how we understand pain.  And, that new understanding could be the key to getting your life back.

We once thought that pain must be caused by damage. We now know better.

in 2024, the International Association for the Study of Pain updated their definition of pain to include this crucial insight:

“Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage.”

Here’s the revelation:

·       Pain is created in the brain—not at the site of injury.

·       Pain isn’t just physical. It’s emotional too.

·       Pain acts as a protective mechanism, like a red warning light on your dashboard.

·       Pain can occur – and persist - without tissue damage due to nervous system sensitivity.

All of which means that pain is now recognised as a subjective experience involving the brain, body, nervous system, and emotions.

Understanding the difference between two specific kinds of pain

As we now know, all pain is generated in the brain. But it’s helpful to distinguish between the kind of pain that arises from actual tissue damage and the kind of pain that feels like it does.

Nociceptive pain This is what you feel when you touch something hot, break a bone, or sprain your ankle. Nociceptors (specialised nerve endings) send danger signals to your brain, and your brain creates pain to protect you. But a 2019 study showed, surprisingly, that up to 90% of chronic pain cases don’t involve ongoing tissue damage. People are in pain with no structural findings to account for it. So, what other type of pain could be responsible?

Neuroplastic pain* This is the kind of pain that occurs when the brain keeps sounding the alarm, even when there’s no apparent ongoing threat. Neuroplastic means the brain can change and adapt by forming new connections throughout life. In this case, the brain has adapted to create pain. So why does this happen?

Well, remember that red warning light constantly flashing on your dashboard? Your nervous system might simply be “stuck” in protection mode.

There’s a name for this: Central Sensitisation.

It means your brain and spinal cord have become hypersensitive. Imagine your nervous system like a stereo. Normally, the volume goes up when you need protection and back down once you're safe. But with central sensitisation, i t’s stuck on full blast and that red warning light on your dashboard just won’t stop flashing. The hidden role of stress and emotion

Neuroplastic pain can be caused by tissue damage that has long-since healed, or even by intense ‘painful’ emotional experiences. This is because emotional pain, like rejection or heartbreak, lights up the same brain areas as physical pain, so the brain can’t always distinguish between physical and emotional suffering. Many people with chronic pain have a history of stress, anxiety, or trauma—even from years ago. These experiences can put the nervous system on high alert. Here’s how it works:

• You hurt yourself or you are hurt emotionally.

• Your brain turns up the pain to protect you.

• But over time, stress, fear, and emotion can keep that alarm system turned on—even after the body has healed or the painful emotional experience has passed.
  

• You get caught up in what experts call the 7Fs:

  • Fear – not knowing what’s going on

  • Focusing – constantly thinking about the pain

  • Fighting – trying to resist or beat it

  • Frustration – feeling stuck or unheard

  • Figuring out – endlessly Googling or chasing treatments

  • Fixing – trying to find the “right” pill or doctor

  • Forlorn – feeling hopeless
    

• Your brain experiences all of these emotions as an ongoing threat and maintains or intensifies your pain.
  

Brain scans show what’s really happening

Thanks to modern brain imaging (like functional MRIs), scientists can now see what happens in the brain in real-time.

Here’s what they found when studying pain:

• Acute pain lights up the brain’s sensory areas (like touch or temperature).

• But chronic pain (pain that lasts for 12 weeks or more) literally shifts to the brain’s “Default Mode Network”— this is the brain’s "resting mode" and an area of the brain linked to emotion, memory, and identity.
  

In other words, chronic pain becomes linked to emotion and the self. That’s why it feels so overwhelming, personal, and hard to treat. It’s no longer just about the body.

Some signs that your nervous system might be sensitised:

• Pain that spreads beyond the original area

• Feeling sensitive to light, sound, touch, or stress

• Symptoms that get worse when you’re tired or upset

• Normal test results, but the pain still feels very real
  

Why treatments don’t always work – and what might

If the pain isn’t coming from the body, then treatments aimed at the body—like painkillers, injections, or even surgery—often don’t work. In some cases, they can even make things worse.

The good news? The brain and nervous system can change. That’s what neuroplasticity means. Just like your brain learned to be over-protective and create pain, it can learn to feel safe again and stop creating pain.

What are Mind-Body Conditions?

Conditions caused by central sensitisation, leading to neuroplastic pain are often called Mind-Body Conditions. That doesn’t mean they’re “all in your head.” It means they are real, physical symptoms—caused by disrupted patterns in the brain and nervous system.

There is a surprisingly long list of recognised conditions that fall into this category:

Pain-related:

• Chronic back or neck pain

• Fibromyalgia

• Tension headaches, migraines

• Temporomandibular Joint disorder (TMJ),

• Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS),

• Pelvic pain

• Vulvodynia

• Interstitial cystitis
  

Fatigue-related:

• Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME)

• Post-viral fatigue (like long COVID)

• Burnout or nervous system exhaustion
  

Neurological symptoms:

• Non-epileptic seizures

• Dizziness, tremors, weakness

• Tinnitus, blurry vision
  

Gut-related:

• IBS, nausea, functional dyspepsia
  

How is a Mind-Body Condition diagnosed? A Mind-Body specialist will usually rule out structural issues first. Then they look for these clues:

• Is the pain Functional? – The body is structurally okay but there are issues with how the body is functioning.

• Is the pain inconsistent? – Symptoms vary depending on mood, time of day, or situation.

• Is the pain triggered? – Symptoms flare with stress, emotion, or memory—not just physical movement.
  

So how do you heal a Mind-Body Condition?

This is the exciting part: There are new approaches that actually work. Mind-Body medicine is growing, with hundreds of studies and countless physician-documented recoveries of patients all over the world.

Pioneers like Dr. Howard Schubiner (Unlearn Your Pain), Steven Blake (OldPain2Go), and others are leading the way in this new field of medicine.

Rather than trying to fix the body, Mind-Body therapies focus on helping the brain feel safe again. That can involve:

• Education about pain (surprisingly, understanding it changes it!)

• Emotional processing through Hypnotherapy or guided visualisation (to tap into the subconscious mind and let go of old ‘wounds’)

• Supportive relationships (to help rebuild strength and resilience)

• Reintroducing gentle movement (to help the brain relearn that movement isn’t dangerous)

Connection is powerful medicine. As human beings, we are wired for connection. From birth, we regulate our nervous systems through co-regulation—adapting and responding to the calming effect of others. Which is why healing of this kind often happens best in safe, supportive communities—whether that’s a therapy group, group workshops, or even deep, supportive conversations. When we feel safe, we are seen and heard, and the nervous system relaxes. The alarm quiets. Healing begins.

You’re not broken. You’re just stuck – and you can get unstuck.

If you’ve been living with chronic pain and nothing has helped, there is hope. This new science doesn’t dismiss your pain—it explains it. And better yet, it shows us how to recover:

your pain is real, your brain plays a central role, and your recovery is possible. About Belief Dynamics

I’m a certified OldPain2Go® Practitioner and a qualified and registered Hypnotherapy Practitioner. I help people reduce or even completely release chronic pain and fatigue using Mind-Body techniques grounded in logic, science, and compassion.

If you’re curious and would like to join one of my Release Chronic Pain Dynamic Mind & Body workshops or discuss a one-to-one session, get in touch for a free 15-minute consultation. You’ve got nothing to lose—and a lot of life to gain.