How can someone who doesn’t deal well with chronic pain be helped to cope better?

Research has shown that some people with chronic pain have personality traits that can make it more difficult to cope with the pain. Whether this means having a pessimistic view of the pain (“I can’t do anything about it, the pain controls me”) or an unnatural avoidance of pain, if this is addressed, the pain levels may go down as well.

The important issue is that the personality traits have to be noticed and dealt with by the healthcare provider. So, if a patient with chronic pain is not feeling relief from the various treatment plans being offered, perhaps some counseling regarding the pain, what causes it, and how to manage it, may be in order for some.