I saw a post by a therapist on Threads recently about chronic pain that gave me real cause for concern. It had over 2.2k likes. In it, she argued that CBT for pain is “ridiculous,” that people with chronic pain simply need medical treatment, and that validation is what matters most. I found this framing extraordinary and troubling. Why? Because chronic pain is complex. Yes, validation is always necessary. Anyone living with persistent pain deserves to be believed, respected,
Pain is rarely simple, and for many people living with chronic conditions, it is not confined to a single cause. Some experience both neuroplastic pain - pain that arises from the nervous system’s learned patterns of over-sensitization or misfiring - and structural pain, caused by identifiable damage or dysfunction in the body’s tissues, joints, or organs.
