Harnessing the Power of the Mind: Exploring the Effectiveness of Guided Visualization for Pain Relief
When treating health concerns or managing their long-term presence, pain and its management is important enough to be a jurisdiction all its own, aptly named pain management.
Reducing pain and minimizing it when complete eradication is not possible can improve your quality of life or at least ease anxieties regarding upcoming procedures, which may make you more likely to have a successful and low-pain experience.
Below are five studies and reviews examining the incorporation of guided visualization into pain management. The articles show how this complementary therapy can reduce your pain and the other benefits that can emerge through your practice.
Table of Contents
1. Guided Visualization Reduces Pain When Changing Dressings on Burns
2. Guided Visualization Reduces Postoperative Pain
3. Orthopedic Patients See Less Pain Post-Operation with Guided Visualization
4. Patients with COVID-19 Have Less Pain with Guided Visualization
5. Progressive Muscle Relaxation and Guided Imagery Reduce Pain in Advanced Cancer Patients
1. Guided Visualization Reduces Pain When Changing Dressings on Burns
Pain, and anxiety in anticipation of this pain, are two of the most significant concerns for burn patients when having their dressings changed. Furthermore, significant complications can arise from this severe pain, including discomfort, prolonged stress response, delayed recovery, low quality of life, and a prolonged hospital stay.
Additionally, pain increases metabolism, exacerbating immune deficiency, malnutrition, and infection susceptibility and further hindering the recovery process and health outcomes. Knowing this, reducing the pain associated with treating burns can significantly improve a patient’s health and well-being.
Aghakhani et al. examined how guided visualization can help those with burns. Seventy patients were included in the study and split into two groups: those receiving guided visualization and those who did not. The guided visualization group received a daily session of guided visualization for four consecutive days using headphones. Then, the pain-related anxiety levels of those in both groups were assessed before the dressing change, and pain levels were evaluated after the dressing change.
The results of this study were exceptional, with the researchers finding that not only was guided visualization able to reduce pain-related anxiety in their patients, making them less nervous about the dressing change, but it also reduced the pain associated with the treatment.
2. Guided Visualization Reduces Postoperative Pain
Postoperative pain is an unfavorably anticipated part of the recovery process, and its most common predictor is anxiety leading up to the procedure, with higher anxiety associated with greater acute postoperative pain. Since inadequate pain management after an operation can lead to a lower quality of life, poor recovery, increased healthcare costs, and a higher likelihood of chronic pain, pain relief is a crucial element of recovery.
Alvarez-Garcia & Yaban examined how complementary therapies, specifically guided imagery, can be integrated into the pre-operative period to reduce pain post-operation. They completed a systemic review and meta-analysis of 21 studies and found that guided imagery completed before a procedure reduced anxiety in children and adults and reduced postoperative pain in adults, showing the power a pre-operative plan focused on reducing anxiety can have on your recovery.
3. Orthopedic Patients See Less Pain Post-Operation with Guided Visualization
With orthopedic surgery involving significant muscle and skeletal tissue reconstruction or repair, the pain following a procedure of this sort can be intense. Since pain is a multilevel phenomenon involving both psychosocial and physiological components, holistic management of pain requires interventions that address the mind, body, and spirit, a feat that can be accomplished with the help of guided visualization.
Carpenter et al. completed a literature review of nine articles, comparing factors such as impact on pain level, medication use, length of stay, and frequency of intervention. Eight of the included studies showed a reduction in pain levels when guided visualization was implemented, and five showed statistically significant improvements in pain. These studies show that, even when employed against a notoriously painful procedure, guided visualization can still improve pain levels.
4. Patients with COVID-19 Have Less Pain with Guided Visualization
Beyond the high anxiety associated with COVID-19 because of its high mortality rate, those with this infection may also experience muscle pain. With a lack of effective treatment for the disease itself, supportive therapy is the most common form of treatment to manage the symptoms.
An Iranian study examined how guided visualization can benefit those with COVID-19. 110 patients participated in the study and were separated into two groups: those receiving ten training sessions of guided visualization and those who did not.
Pain levels were measured using the McGill Pain Questionnaire and revealed a significant decline in pain quality and intensity with guided visualization, among improvements in other vital signs such as systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation. Given the deadly and debilitating nature of COVID-19, the ability of guided visualization to reduce pain and improve vital signs, which may lead to better health outcomes, makes it a valuable addition to COVID-19 treatment plans.
5. Progressive Muscle Relaxation and Guided Imagery Reduce Pain in Advanced Cancer Patients
Interactive guided imagery (IGI) sessions help patients visualize positive and pleasant images while imagining themselves in great detail using multiple senses. This practice has been reported to produce profound physiological effects since the body often responds to imagery as it does a real external experience. Thus, the brain stimulation seen as a result of IGI can induce the release of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and endogenous opioid peptides, aiding pain management. Results that support this physiological possibility were seen in a study by De Paolis et al.
During the study, 104 terminal cancer patients in hospice were divided into two groups, with the first having their symptoms and pain measured immediately before and 2 hours after an IGI session combined with progressive muscle relaxation. The second group did not receive these interventions. Over the following 24-hour period, acute pain episodes and rescue analgesics were recorded.
The results of the study saw a significantly greater decline in pain intensity and symptom distress in the group receiving IGI compared to those who did not, showing that the addition of guided visualization to end-of-life care for terminal cancer patients can ease their pain and make them more comfortable in their final days.
Guided Visualization Reduces Pain by Easing the Mind
Guided visualization and its active use of the mind can ease anxiety and improve your mental headspace. In addition to the improved mental well-being this offers, guided visualization has also been shown to reduce pain in various situations, including burn wounds, undergoing operations, COVID-19, and terminal cancer patients receiving hospice care.
The effects of guided visualization as a form of pain management are numerous, with it capable of improving vital signs, aiding recovery, and making people more comfortable as they receive end-of-life care.
If you’re in pain or feeling fear about the pain of an upcoming procedure or treatment, guided visualization can help ease your anxieties and reduce your pain.
Read more in our series highlighting recent research on guided visualization’s effect on health and well-being below:
The Healing Power of Guided Visualization: A Journey to Shorter Recovery Times
Harnessing the Calming Power of Guided Visualization: Research on Reducing Anxiety and Stress
Strengthening Immunity: The Science Behind Guided Visualization
Elevating Well-Being: The Transformative Power of Guided Visualization
Navigating Chronic Illness: The Empowering Role of Guided Visualization
References
Nader Aghakhani, Faraji, N., Vahid Alinejad, Goli, R., & Jafar Kazemzadeh. (2022). The effect of guided imagery on the quality and severity of pain and pain-related anxiety associated with dressing changes in burn patients: A randomized controlled trial. Burns, 48(6), 1331–1339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.burns.2021.11.020
Álvarez-García, C., & Züleyha Şimşek Yaban. (2020). The effects of preoperative guided imagery interventions on preoperative anxiety and postoperative pain: A meta-analysis. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 38, 101077–101077. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2019.101077
Carpenter, J. J., Hines, S. H., & Lan, V. M. (2017). Guided Imagery for Pain Management in Postoperative Orthopedic Patients: An Integrative Literature Review. Journal of holistic nursing : official journal of the American Holistic Nurses' Association, 35(4), 342–351. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898010116675462
Parizad, N., Goli, R., Faraji, N., Mam-Qaderi, M., Mirzaee, R., Gharebaghi, N., Baghaie, R., Feizipour, H., & Haghighi, M.-M. (2021). Effect of guided imagery on anxiety, muscle pain, and vital signs in patients with COVID-19: A randomized controlled trial. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 43, 101335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2021.101335
Giulia De Paolis, Naccarato, A., Cibelli, F., D’Alete, A., Mastroianni, C., Surdo, L., Casale, G., & Magnani, C. (2019). The effectiveness of progressive muscle relaxation and interactive guided imagery as a pain-reducing intervention in advanced cancer patients: A multicentre randomised controlled non-pharmacological trial. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 34, 280–287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2018.12.014
