GUILT AND PAIN…..Ihsan Shanti

GUILT AND PAIN

If you are the type of a ‘guilt accumulator’ in the past, and you are a chronic pain patient, you will be easily trapped into feeling increasing amounts of guilt. If you are not the type of person who accumulates guilt, you will now have some difficulty avoiding it. It may become your friend for a while. The circumstances surrounding living with a person with chronic pain provide many possibilities for thinking or feeling that you have not done the best thing in a given situation. Feeling guilty is an acquired trait. We are not born with that trait. Depression walks hand-in-hand with feeling guilty. Often times, depression accompanies chronic pain and the treating one may improve the other.

Resolutions for Guilt:

• Accept guilt as a normal human feeling over which you have minimal control.

• Get busy and find an activity you like to get your mind off the guilt

• Exercise and get involved in gardening, biking, swimming or volunteering. The bottom line, do something you like for the present instead of dwelling about the past.

• Eat healthy and take vitamins

• Avoid alcohol

• Ask for professional help and don’t be shy of asking for antidepressants.

• Sleep well and avoid stimulants. Schedule your guilt time – only feel guilty on Sundays!