Everyone knows that stress can make pain feel worse. But a new study shows that anger—especially when combined with a sense of unfairness—might be even more powerful in making chronic pain last longer and feel more intense.
Researchers studied over 700 adults who were dealing with chronic pain. They found that how a person feels and expresses anger may play a big role in how much pain they feel—and how long that pain sticks around. People who felt deeply wronged or unfairly treated because of their condition were more likely to report worse pain months later.
This study was led by Dr. Gadi Gilam, who runs the tSCAN lab at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It was published in The Journal of Pain. His team included researchers from Stanford University, Boston University, and the University of Innsbruck.
The team wanted to understand how anger affects people living with chronic pain. They used a technique called latent profile analysis to sort the participants into different groups based on how they experienced and handled anger.
In total, they identified four unique “anger profiles.” These profiles looked at things like how easily someone gets angry, how much they hold onto anger, how they express it, and whether they feel that their pain is unfair or represents a major loss.
The results were clear. People who showed medium to high levels of both anger and feelings of injustice reported more severe pain, more areas of the body in pain, and more problems with their daily lives. They also had higher levels of emotional suffering.
On the other hand, people who managed their anger well and didn’t feel so bitter about their pain generally had better outcomes. Their pain was less intense, and they functioned better emotionally and physically.
Dr. Gilam says that anger itself isn’t always bad. It’s a normal emotion that can even be helpful when controlled properly. But when anger gets mixed with the feeling that something unfair has happened—like getting a painful condition without cause—it can trap people in a harmful cycle. This mix of emotions can keep the pain going and make it worse.
The researchers followed 242 people for about five months. They found that these anger profiles could predict how much pain someone would feel later on—even after taking into account other factors like anxiety and depression.
This discovery could help doctors better understand which patients are at risk for ongoing, severe pain. Right now, there are not many tools to predict who will recover and who will struggle with long-term pain. We also don’t fully understand how chronic pain works in the brain. There’s no simple cure for it yet.
Dr. Gilam and his team believe that by looking at how patients feel about their pain—especially if they feel it’s unfair—doctors could develop better treatment plans. These plans might include therapies that focus on emotional awareness, managing anger, and building compassion.
The study suggests that treating chronic pain isn’t just about medication or physical therapy. It’s also about treating the person’s emotions. Helping people understand and manage their anger could be an important step in helping them heal.
If you care about pain, please read studies about vitamin K deficiency linked to hip fractures in old people, and these vitamins could help reduce bone fracture risk.
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