[Question] Should I treat pain differently if it’s “all in my head?”

I sometimes suffer from RSI. I’ve heard several people I respect say that they think most RSI is a psychological phenomenon. My understanding of their view is that they think there’s a feedback loop where you notice your wrists hurting and then you are anxious about the pain, causing you to pay more attention to it, which causes more pain though some mechanism we don’t yet understand. For the purposes of this post, I’m interested in the hypothetical of if something like that story is true.

I have some stories for what I’d do differently:

  • Ask a doctor to prescribe some psychiatric drugs, like SSRIs if I thought it was related to anxiety

And some things I’d do the same:

  • Continue to rest my wrists and do voice work when things get bad

But some things I’m uncertain about:

  • Do ergnomics matter?

I know several others who also suffer from RSI, and honestly I think the question is even more complicated there. Am I making my friends’ conditions worse if I talk about my condition?

(As a side note: I’m super glad that I can do voice work and give my wrists a rest. I honestly enjoy it, which is for sure not the typical experience. I am very grateful that I drew ”enjoys voice input” in the lottery of fascinations. While I admittedly haven’t seen many people get the benefit I have, if you’re reading this and would like my help getting set up using Talon Voice, send me a DM.)