Chronic pain lasts for a long time. Many conditions can cause chronic pain, but sometimes it begins mysteriously. Although, it is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with real or potential tissue damage. It occurs when nerve signals malfunction after an injury. There are different ways that doctors suggest to tackle chronic pain. Similarly, new research suggests that reading good books can help you to reduce chronic pain.
The research suggests that shared reading may be beneficial, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It is most commonly used to treat anxiety and depression. It helps you manage your problems by changing how you think and behave.
Josie Billington from the University of Liverpool in Britain said, “Our study indicated that reading the good book could potentially be an alternative to CBT in bringing into conscious awareness areas of emotional pain otherwise passively suffered by chronic pain patients.”
Scientists involved participants with severe chronic pain symptoms in a 5-week CBT group and a 22-week shared reading group.
Scientists found that CBT showed evidence of participants managing emotions by means of systematic techniques. On the other hand, Shared Reading (SR) turned the passive experience of suffering emotion into articulate contemplation of painful concerns.
In shared reading, the literature triggered recall and expression of diverse life experiences. It turned participants’ passive experience of suffering emotion into articulate contemplation of painful concerns. The CBT participants managed their emotions using systematic techniques.
Deputy researcher Dr. Josie Billington said, “Our study indicated that reading good book could potentially be an alternative to CBT in bringing into conscious awareness areas of emotional pain otherwise passively suffered by chronic pain patients.”
He explained, “The encouragement of greater confrontation and tolerance of emotional difficulty that Sharing Reading provides makes it valuable as a longer-term follow-up or adjunct to CBT’s concentration on short-term management of emotion.”
Journal Reference
- Josie Billington, Grace Farrington, Sofia Lampropoulou, Jamie Lingwood, Andrew Jones, James Ledson, Kate McDonnell, Nicky Duirs, Anne-Louise Humphreys. A comparative study of cognitive behavioural therapy and shared reading for chronic pain. Medical Humanities 2017;43:155-165. DOI: 10.1136/medhum-2016-011047