The other day after removing the needles from a patient suffering from low back pain she started sobbing. My first instinct was to be sure that the needles did not aggravate her back. “No, its fine….I just can’t stop crying…..”
The experience reminded me to appreciate the broad nature of pain. Pain is multifactorial because it derives from our sensory being responsible for surveilling not just our physical body but also our emotional body. Often the signals for distress between these bodies crosses. A physical injury can trigger an emotional response or emotional distress can trigger physical pain. The bulk of my acupuncture practice is treating patient in chronic pain yet only a small minority of patients are suffering from a physical injury that would explain the levels of pain they report. The Greeks used the term pathos to define this type of emotional suffering which I think is a useful term to capture general suffering either physical or emotional.
TS Eliot opened his famous wasteland poem with the line “April is the cruelest month” capturing the contrast depressive feel in their souls while nature emerges into bloom. If you or one of your loved ones are experiencing pathos in this cruelest of month, first of all know that you / they are not alone, ever. You / they matter more than you / they could ever know.
The best remedy for depression is connectivity. How each individual achieves that is circumstantial and unique to them but here are a few general tips.
- Start each day with some sort of light exercise outside. Even if it is only 5 minutes. This will set your circadian rhythm and boost endorphins
- Find the courage to share how you are feeling with a trusted friend love one. Yes, it is incredibly vulnerable and yes it doesn’t change anything, but often after sharing one feels lighter
- Options if you don’t feel like talking: walk in nature, sit in a public park. Even passively being around life will help to not feel so alone.
- Try to sit with your feelings. Observing them without reacting to them. Yes, they are uncomfortable, but they carry meaning, and only by digesting them will they eventually pass.
- Journaling your feelings in an stream of consciousness exercise called ‘automatic writing’ can help to disperse your feelings. Write without thinking for 15 min and then throw the sheet out after completion.
- Of course if you are in acute crisis call 988 the crisis helpline and / or seek out professional psychiatric support https://www.psychologytoday.com
After 30 minutes or so the patient exhausted her acute grief. She reported that the pain in her back had eased up and she felt a little lighter. She opened up about financial stress and lack of family support. I imagine that those opened Acu channels released some of that bottled up pathos. It was a good reminder that pathos and pain are one of the same.