People experiencing, or anticipating, financial difficulties are more prone to physical pain, according to an American study.
Unemployment, fear of dismissal or not being able to pay your bills affects morale, but also the body. A study by the University of Virginia, USA, published in Psychological Science shows that people facing financial difficulties are more prone to physical pain.
In the United States, annual expenses related to pain have increased tenfold in twenty years, reaching $ 635 billion in 2008. Cases of addiction to analgesics are also on the rise (+ 50% between 2006 and 2012 ). This trend is correlated with a drop in the purchasing power of the American middle classes, who are increasingly in financial difficulty. The researchers then studied a possible causal link between the two.
20% higher consumption
Several studies had already shown that there was a clear link between psychological distress and physical pain, the two phenomena involving similar brain processes. Eileen Chou, head of the study, and her team then compared the purchases of painkillers from 33,720 households. The researchers managed to find a 20% overconsumption among those whose two adults were unemployed, compared to those whose at least one of the two worked.
Through another series of experiments, they also studied the impact of professional uncertainty (residential area with a sluggish economy, risk of dismissal) on resistance to pain, by calculating the time during which the subjects could keep their hands immersed in a bucket of ice water. This more subjective angle of approach highlighted the link between the feeling of financial insecurity, and therefore the fear of an uncertain future, and pain.
Stress and anxiety
“The subjective interpretation of personal economic security has consequences which go beyond, and which are more significant than the real financial situation”, explain the researchers in their publication. Thus, people worrying about their future, even without a valid reason, can inflict a decrease in pain tolerance.
The feeling of loss of control in the face of a complicated financial situation, unemployment or the risk of dismissal would be involved in the psychological process described by Dr Chou’s team. It causes anxiety, fear and stress, already identified as determining factors for increased physical pain.
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