The thesis of the article suggests that by directing attention towards pain, it gets worse, while directing attention away from pain can reduce it. This seems to be a testable hypothesis. Is there any study about this?
Random anecdotal evidence: I used to do a lot of fire performance, and this was definitely true for that. Once you knew that the weather conditions were such (humidity makes it burn hotter) that you could hold a transfer til it went out on its own (and had the experience to do so), then you could just ignore the sensation, and barely feel it (since you didn’t have to track when you had to put it out yourself).
IF however, you had to put it out yourself (because you’re either not ready yet to hold it til it goes out on its own, or if weather conditions are bad or unknown), then you would have to maintain some awareness/focus on the feeling. The sensation would remain minimal, until it reached a point where you had to pay attention to it (to put it out), and then it would instantly jump to pain-level.
(Note for those who are interested: The first step with dealing with these sorts of painful sensations ISN’T to direct attention elsewhere, but rather to first to get rid of fear. Fear leads to attention, and maximizes pain. Lack of fear leads to the ability to NOT pay attention to pain.)
Random anecdotal evidence: I used to do a lot of fire performance, and this was definitely true for that. Once you knew that the weather conditions were such (humidity makes it burn hotter) that you could hold a transfer til it went out on its own (and had the experience to do so), then you could just ignore the sensation, and barely feel it (since you didn’t have to track when you had to put it out yourself).
IF however, you had to put it out yourself (because you’re either not ready yet to hold it til it goes out on its own, or if weather conditions are bad or unknown), then you would have to maintain some awareness/focus on the feeling. The sensation would remain minimal, until it reached a point where you had to pay attention to it (to put it out), and then it would instantly jump to pain-level.
(Note for those who are interested: The first step with dealing with these sorts of painful sensations ISN’T to direct attention elsewhere, but rather to first to get rid of fear. Fear leads to attention, and maximizes pain. Lack of fear leads to the ability to NOT pay attention to pain.)