Your Health Today
New Approach to Chronic Pain Focuses on Retraining the Brain Instead of Relying on Opioids
The way doctors approach chronic pain has changed significantly over the years, with growing attention on treatments that go beyond medication and focus on how the brain and nervous system process pain.
During September's Pain Awareness Month, Dr. Eric Anderson discussed how behavioral therapies are offering new options for people living with chronic pain.
Anderson says approximately one in four Americans experiences chronic pain. For decades, treatment often focused on managing symptoms, including through opioid prescriptions, rather than addressing the underlying mechanisms contributing to the pain.
Modern pain science suggests the nervous system can sometimes remain in an heightened state of alert after an injury, continuing to generate pain signals even after the original injury has healed.
Anderson says behavioral treatments can help patients change how they interpret and respond to those signals.
One approach is called pain reprocessing therapy, which uses techniques such as retraining the brain, gradual exposure and changing a person's relationship with pain.
He pointed to the Boulder Back Pain Study, which examined people who had experienced chronic back pain for more than a decade. According to Anderson, more than 66% of participants who completed the program experienced relief, with benefits continuing at a five-year follow-up.
Anderson says behavioral treatments have gained support from medical organizations as a first-line option for certain chronic pain conditions, in part because they can be effective without the side effects associated with some medications.
He also discussed techniques that focus on physical sensations, including approaches involving fascia, alongside methods that work more directly with the brain and nervous system.
Anderson says the central idea is that the brain's response to pain can change over time, and some learned pain responses may be unlearned through treatment.
He emphasizes that behavioral therapy is not about dismissing a patient's pain, but helping them understand and change the way their nervous system responds to it.
By: NBC Palm Springs
November 6, 2026
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