Chronic pain is a persistent condition experienced by an estimated 33% to 47% of adult Americans, leading to severe physical and emotional consequences. It is often invisible, causing misunderstandings from others and contributing to social isolation, with over 50% of those affected experiencing serious suicidal thoughts. Women statistically face more challenges in being taken seriously regarding their chronic pain, and it is frequently misattributed to mental or hormonal issues.

2.  Imagine that you are in moderate to severe pain—
maybe you have a migraine or a broken arm. Now,
imagine the pain doesn’t go away-ever. The doctors
can’t figure it out. Your friends are wondering what
you did to cause the pain (because you must have
done-something-right?), and your family members
are having a hard time believing you are in pain
when they can’t see it and it doesn’t show up on
any tests. But you know it’s real. You find yourself
having to take on less responsibility and cancel time
spent hanging out because you need the time to
manage and deal with your pain. Every time you do
so, you feel guilty for not being able to do more or
spend more time with others. You have chronic
pain.

3.  Chronic Pain=persistent or constant
pain lasting 12 weeks or more, often
for years. In other words, it’s pain
that doesn’t shut off. (“Chronic
Pain”)
 There are many types of chronic
pain—including chronic back pain,
Fibromyalgia, Lupus, and chronic
migraines
 Estimates about the percent of adult
Americans in chronic pain range from
33% to 47%. These statistics do not
count the many children and babies
in chronic pain (Chan, “Chronic Pain
Affects”).
 Yet…many people do not know that
chronic pain even exists.

4.  For some, chronic pain means the loss of
socialization, their job, or their hobbies, as
chronic pain can limit activities.
 Over 50% of people in chronic pain have had
serious suicidal thoughts, compared to 3.7%
of the general population (Cheatle,
“Suicide”).
 This may be due to difficulty of living in
pain, loss of socialization, isolation, etc.
 Chronic pain is invisible, meaning that there
is usually no visible cause or evidence of the
pain. This may make the pain seem made up
or exaggerated to others.

5. Chronic pain patients may
feel like failures because
they cannot stop the pain;
society favors health, and
contains many implicit and
explicit messages that state
that people can and should
choose their own health,
which is generally not
possible for chronic pain
patients.
For
example…

7.  While biases face all chronic
pain patients, women are
statistically much more likely
to be in chronic pain and
much less likely to have it
taken seriously than are men
(Thompson).
 Chronic pain in women is
often “treated as mental or
hormonal, rather than as a
true disease or disorder” by
both doctors and society
(Moskowitz, qtd. in
Thompson).

8. LastScenario!

9.  “AAPM Facts and Figures on Chronic Pain." American
Academy of Pain Medicine. The American Academy
of Pain Medicine, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
 Chan, Amanda L. "Chronic Pain Affects 47 Percent Of
U.S. Adults, Survey Finds." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 30 Apr. 2012. Web. 14 June
2015.
 Cheatle, Martin D. "Depression, Chronic Pain, and
Suicide by Overdose: On the Edge." Pain Medicine 12
(2011): S43-48. EBSCO Host. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
 "Chronic Pain: Symptoms, Diagnosis, &
Treatment." NIH Medline Plus. Spring 2011: 5-6. U.S
National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of
Medicine, 2011. Web. 29 May 2015.
 "Suicide Statistics." Emory University. Emory
University, 2015. Web. 30 May 2015.
 Thomson, Dennis. "Women and Chronic
Pain." EverydayHealth.com. Every Day Health Media,
n.d. Web. 19 June 2015.