The Science of Willpower

Secrets for self-control without suffering.

by Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D.

How Meditation Changes Pain, Relieves Depression

By Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D. on September 25, 2011 in The Science of Willpower

It's not too often that my first response to pain is, "Fantastic!"

But when I collapsed to the ground after banging my ankle on a hardwood meditation bench, I knew this was an opportunity for a scientific experiment. I had spent the last few days preparing a talk on the neuroscience of meditation. More specifically, how meditators process pain differently than non-meditators. Read More

Hello from another PT blogger

Submitted by Toni Bernhard, J.D. on September 26, 2011 - 7:59am.

Thanks for this article. I was fascinated to read about the difference between how a meditator approaches pain and how a non-meditator does. I knew from my own experience that going off into storylines only adds mental suffering to physical suffering. It was nice to see that experiments in the lab are proving this to be the case. You might be interested to see a post where I wrote about using mindfulness to ease physical suffering:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/turning-straw-gold/201104/mindfulnes...

It's nice to meet you at PT!

Warmest wishes,
Toni