You may have alexithymic tendencies. Alexithymia is not a diagnosis but refers to difficulty identifying and expressing emotions. Alexithymia is thought to contribute to chronic pain through non-expression of feelings and consequent build-up of physical tension. You need to learn how to get in touch with your feelings and how to “listen to your body.” A therapist could help you with this. You could also benefit from activities that help connect you with your feelings such as yoga, meditation and relaxation. My CD ‘Calm & Confident’ also contains material which will increase your ability to connect with feelings and regulate emotions. You can listen to a sample under the ‘Self-help tapes’ icon on the home page.

Analyzing your results from this questionnaire should give you an idea what psychological risk factors are contributing to your pain and where you need to direct your efforts psychologically in terms of overcoming your pain. This questionnaire is designed to assess the 5 most common psychological risk factors for chronic pain; namely Adverse Childhood Experiences, Present Stress, Alexithymia, Traumatic Stress and Depression. However, everyone is different and not everyone has the same levels of risk factors. This information is intended as a guide only and is not meant as a substitute for appropriate psychological or medical treatment.