How to Reduce Pain

The Mask of Evil
On my wall hangs a Japanese carving, The mask of an evil demon, decorated with gold lacquer. Sympathetically I observe The swollen veins of the forehead, indicating What a strain it is to be evil.
By Bertolt Brecht
Many psychological factors can determine how bad a pain is that a person feels: cultural training, emotional states, how much a person feels sorry for himself, and one's understanding of pain, and what rewards are received from having pain.
Cultural training teaches a lot about pain. In some third world countries, an event called couvad occurs. The father instead of the mother feels the birthing pains. If the father does not feel sufficient pain, the child is not his. When birth time comes, the mother leaves the field, gives birth to the child, wraps him up, and returns to the field. Meanwhile, the father has retired to his bed in pain.
In one hospital were Italian, Jewish, American and Irish men. The Italians and Jews are very expressive people. They let people know when they are in pain with many a moan and groan. However, the American and Irish men are taught that it is not manly to complain of pain, and bear it quietly.
One's emotional state can either greatly magnify or greatly diminish pain. Thirty-six Georgian convicts were forced to labor many hours day after day in the hot sun breaking rocks and hauling off wheel barrows. Time and again they complained of the miserable working conditions. Finally they no longer could stand it. Every man sat down, supported a leg with two rocks, and broke their legs with their sledge hammers. There were no screams of pain.
As you can see the pain felt can be limited by one's mental and emotional outlook. In the book Getting Well Again, Dr. Carl and Stephanie Simonton give a pain reduction method on pages 127 and 205.
First: Prepare yourself by using the relaxation process: a. Go to a quiet room with soft lighting. Shut the door and sit in a comfortable chair, feet flat on the floor, eyes closed. b. Become away of your breathing. c. Take a few deep breaths, and as you let out each breath, mentally say the word "relax" d. Concentrate on your face and feel any tension in your face and yes. Make a mental picture of this tension--it might be a rope tied in a knot or a clenched fist--and then mentally picture it relaxing and becoming comfortable, like a limp rubber band. e. Experience your face and eyes becoming relaxed. As they relax, feel a wave of relaxation spreading throughout your body. f. Tense your face and eyes, squeezing tightly, then relax them and feel the relaxation spreading throughout your body. g. Apply the previous instructions to other parts of your body. Move slowly down your body until every part of your body is relaxed. For each part of the body mentally pictured in tension, then picture the tension melting away. h. When you have relaxed each part of the body, rest quietly for two to five minutes. Second: Focus on the pain. What color is it? See its color and shape and size clearly. It may be a bright red ball. It may be the size of a tennis ball or a grapefruit or a basketball.
Third: Mentally project the ball out into space, maybe ten feet away from your body.
Fourth: Make the ball bigger, about the size of a basketball. Then shrink it to the size of a pea. Now let it become whatever size it chooses to be. Usually it returns to the original size you visualized.
Fifth: Begin to change the ball's color. Make it pink, then light green.
Sixth: Now take the green ball and put it back where your originally saw it. At this point, notice whether or not your pain has been reduced.
Seventh: As you open your eyes, you are now ready to resume your usual activities.
Eighth: Try recording this on tape.
I hope that this is helpful to anyone who is struggling with daily pain and wants to reduce drugs as much as possible.