Because there is a pervasive belief in the medical community that, “Among severe chronic pain patients, 94% had depression. This and much other research demonstrate that severe and disabling chronic pain is a symptom associated with serious psychosocial distress, often a major mental disorder such as clinical depression.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5904346/
Let’s break this down.
Mainstream medicine believes that depression is the underlying cause of physical pain (isn’t pain, itself, depressing?).
Added to this belief is the fact that women, who statistically suffer more pain, have been
told for centuries, and continue to be told, that their pain is due to stress, anxiety
or depression, otherwise known as “it’s all in your head” or psychosomatic.
Let’s take a moment to talk about the psychosomatic label.
How does the medical establishment treat a depressed or anxious person, especially a woman, who also suffers chronic pain?
Sooner or later, that person ends up in a psychiatrist or other mental health professional’s office. Mental health practitioners diagnose patients using the The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5). It’s important to note that the DSM-5 only mentions the term “chronic pain” a few times.
On page 813 of the DSM-5, it states: “Some individuals with chronic pain would be appropriately diagnosed as having Somatic Symptom Disorder, with predominant pain.
The Mayo Clinic’s website describes symptoms of Somatic Symptom Disorder as:
• Specific sensations, such as pain or shortness of breath, or more general symptoms, such as fatigue or weakness.
• Unrelated to any medical cause that can be identified, or related to a medical condition such as cancer or heart disease, but more significant than what's usually expected.
The key phrase is “unrelated to any medical cause that can be identified.”
Just because your doctor doesn’t know what’s causing your pain doesn’t mean it’s psychosomatic, or all in your head!
The Mayo Clinic website goes on to say:
“Pain is the most common symptom, but whatever your symptoms, you have excessive thoughts, feelings or behaviors related to those symptoms, which cause significant problems, make it difficult to function and sometimes can be disabling.”
Apart from the disabling nature of pain itself, why wouldn’t someone suffer excessive thoughts, disabling feelings
Mainstream medicine believes that Depression is the underlying cause
of physical pain
(isn’t pain, itself, depressing?)