Mike Carruthers

You can trick people.

I mean, you know, the dentist does it all the time when he says, you're going to feel a little pressure here.

It's not pressure.

It hurts like hell.

But by setting that expectation, it probably doesn't hurt as much as if he had said, this is going to hurt a lot.

And it does.

It somehow enters into the equation, what you expect is what you get.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's so interesting.

And then it also just seems to be that...

There are people who, I don't know how else to put this other than to say that they don't let pain get in their way, that they feel it, but they soldier through it anyway, and then other people who kind of succumb to it and go, oh, God, everything hurts, and whine and complain about it.

And that seems to be more of a personality thing, but I imagine it really impacts how you get through life dealing with the pain you're dealing with.

Yeah, well, you know, not to be morbid about it, but, you know, pain is kind of our constant companion.

You can't go very long, a day or two maybe, without pain.

Stubbing your toe or smacking your hand on something or just something happens.

We know pain.

We all know pain intimately well.

And it's so good to get an understanding of what it is and why it happens and what you can do about it.

I've been speaking with Dr. Anish Singla.

He's a physician who specializes in treating pain and anxiety.