This week join your patient co-hosts Tiffany Westrich-Robertson, Deb Constein, and Patrice Johnson as they take us back stage at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Conference. This episode will focus on a session from ACR titled “Grit, Gratitude, and Grace” about the impact that positive psychology can have on disease and pain management for AiArthritis patients.
Researchers induced pain in healthy adult military cadets to study the relationship between mindset and pain perception. They found that subjects wit...
This week join your patient co-hosts Tiffany Westrich-Robertson, Deb Constein, and Patrice Johnson as they take us back stage at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Conference. This episode will focus on a session from ACR titled “Grit, Gratitude, and Grace” about the impact that positive psychology can have on disease and pain management for AiArthritis patients.
Researchers induced pain in healthy adult military cadets to study the relationship between mindset and pain perception. They found that subjects with more positive attitudes, resilience to adversity, and growth mindsets reported lower pain levels than those who did not share those traits. Scientists have also discovered a link between pain and mental health. Depression and anxiety can even trigger an inflammatory response and the corresponding pain in some people. But patients know that just telling someone to have a positive attitude does not help them, so Tiffany, Deb, and Patrice will dig into the specific ways that you can harness grit, gratitude, and grace to feel happier and experience less pain.
The mission of AiArthritis is to elevate and center the patient voice in global conversations with all stakeholders about solving problems facing the autoimmune and autoinflammatory arthritis community. AiArthritis Voices - our online platform designed to deepen these conversations - allows all patients and parents of juvenile patients to attend conferences like ACR through our innovative new Learn and Connect section. So come join us to continue this and other conversations!
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Show Notes: Episode 50 – “Grit, Gratitude, and Grace”
00:52 - Tiffany welcomes listeners
01:37 - Tiffany is joined today by Deb and Patrice, who attended the virtual American College of Rheumatology Conference with Tiffany
02:49 - Patients are increasingly demanding a “whole body approach” to treating AiArthritis Diseases which may include non-pharmacologic therapies
03:31 - One of the sessions at ACR discussed the effect of positive mindset on disease and pain management
06:38 - The speaker focused heavily on how individuals respond to adversity and why some people are more resilient than others
06:59 - When you experience adversity, what happens inside your body?
07:28 - People who are more resilient (ie have grit) tend to experience less pain
08:23 - People with military training tend to have strong resilience, so researchers studied grit in cadets by inducing pain in healthy subjects
09:13 - The cadets with the most positive attitudes had higher pain thresholds and more resilience to pain
09:40 - Other research has shown that depression and anxiety can trigger inflammatory responses and pain in subjects
11:30 - People with a fixed mindset (as opposed to a growth mindset) are more likely to feel depressed and have higher levels of pain
12:24 - There are two types of gratitude: worldly (where you are thankful for specific things) and spiritual (where you are thankful to a higher power for all you have)
13:09 - Keeping a 30 Day Gratitude Journal can help people experience less turmoil, less anxiety, and less pain
14:16 - Deb is thankful in some ways for her disease because it has connected her to so many people and experiences that are very rewarding
15:19 - Grace is a feeling beyond simple thankfulness where you identify a direction and purpose in life
16:35 - People who feel like they have a purpose in life reportedly experience less anxiety, less depression, and better sleep
19:00 - Tiffany, Deb, and Patrice share their self-identified character strengths
22:28 - If you are a patient or the parent of a juvenile living with an AiArthritis disease, please join us at aiarthritisvoices.org to attend more conferences like this and continue this conversation with us
23:26 - Tiffany invites listeners to get involved in any of our projects by visiting us on the web at aiarthritis.org
23:40 - Please consider supporting the show by donating at aiarthritis.org/talkshow
23:54 - Tiffany thanks listeners for their support as AiArthritis Voices 360 celebrates our first Anniversary as a talkshow
