Summary: Music has been suggested as a complementary alternative to chronic pain medication. A new study examines the experience of a woman with chronic pain who used music for pain management. The study delves into the contextual aspects of music listening, as well as the physiological and cognitive benefits of music listening.
The study suggests that music-induced analgesia involves complex cognitive and emotional mechanisms, which may modulate the descending pain modulatory pathway.
Key Facts:
- The case study highlights how a woman found relief from chronic pain through listening to music after discontinuing her opioid-based treatment.
- The participant’s experience suggests that music-induced analgesia involves cognitive and emotional mechanisms, such as the descending pain modulatory pathway, and that it may be possible to reduce the use of pain medication.
- Therapeutic accompaniment, which involves a mediating figure between the patient and the institution, may be useful in helping patients reorient their subjectivity and follow their experiences during the treatment.
Source: Neuroscience News
Chronic pain can have a debilitating effect on an individual’s life, making it challenging to perform daily activities and experience wellbeing. For years, opioid-based medication has been the go-to treatment for chronic pain, providing pain relief but also altering perception of the body and emotions.
However, recent studies have shown that music can be a complementary alternative for chronic pain, providing relief from pain and anxiety, motivation for exercise, and improved sleep quality.
In a recent study, a woman who had lived with chronic pain for 20 years was investigated. The study involved exploring the participant’s experience of the context in which she listened to music, the intensity and quality of pain, body mapping, memories, emotions, and cognition.
The participant listened to music for various reasons, such as pain and anxiety relief, motivation to exercise, and quality of sleep, all revolving around different strategies for pain management.
The study revealed that listening to music not only relieved the participant’s pain but also reduced withdrawal effects after discontinuing her opioid-based treatment. The effects may involve endogenous opioid and dopamine mechanisms associated with pleasurable experiences, providing natural analgesia.
The frequency with which music is used and certain instrumental properties, such as the acoustic quality and the use of high-fidelity headphones, may influence the effectiveness of music-induced analgesia.
Moreover, the study showed improvements in physiological and cognitive aspects, including perceived restorative sleep, which may have improved the participant’s general wellbeing and cognitive and motor performance.
Additionally, the participant’s communication skills were enhanced, reinforcing her learning of new experiences and building spaces in which she expressed her pain with less stigma.
Therapeutic accompaniment was proposed to reorient subjective properties of pain and expand quantitative and qualitative knowledge for more comprehensive reports on music and analgesia.
The accompaniment serves as a mediating figure between the patient and the institution, allowing the patient to reorient her/his subjectivity and follow her/his experiences during the treatment. It helps to communicate the experiences and systematize them for a better understanding of both the patient and the medical institution to design more sensitive treatments and research.
The findings revealed that music can be a powerful tool in managing chronic pain, providing an alternative to opioid-based medication. The feeling of self-control over one’s body and pain may further increase the pain threshold, and the reduction of depression and anxiety symptoms together may increase one’s quality of life.
Although music may not benefit everyone, the study suggests that music-induced analgesia may be a viable option for some individuals with chronic pain.
The researchers suggest physicians should also study how music may reduce pain medication, with the goal of a more integral treatment. With the help of patients like the one in the study, we may further understand chronic pain and music-induced analgesia.
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About this pain research news
Author: Press Office
Source: Neuroscience News
Contact: Press Office – Neuroscience News
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Case Report: “I got my brain back” A patient’s experience with music-induced analgesia for chronic pain” by Roberto E. Mercadillo et al. Frontiers in Psychology
Abstract
Case Report: “I got my brain back” A patient’s experience with music-induced analgesia for chronic pain
Listening to music has progressively been proposed as a complementary alternative for chronic pain; understanding its properties and its neurobiological bases is urgent.
We show a phenomenological investigation of a woman who has lived 20 years with chronic pain. The inquiry involved her experience of the context in which she listens to music, the intensity and quality of pain, body mapping, memories, emotions, and cognition.
The participant listens to music for different reasons, such as pain and anxiety relief, motivation to exercise, and quality of sleep, but all seem to revolve around different strategies for pain management.
Experiences in physiological and cognitive aspects included perceived restorative sleep that may have improved the participant’s general wellbeing and improved cognitive and motor performance as well as communication skills.
The music enabled the participant not only to relieve pain but also withdrawal effects after discontinuing her opioid-based treatment. These effects may encompass endogenous opioid and dopamine mechanisms involving natural analgesia associated with pleasurable experiences.
Future studies could consider phenomenological case studies and therapeutic accompaniment to reorient subjective properties of pain and expand quantitative and qualitative knowledge for more comprehensive reports on music and analgesia.
