People who live with chronic pain, for example, commonly have catastrophic thoughts that appear to impact their lives even more than the intensity of the pain does. When they learn to separate their physical sensations from their unpleasant affect, they may use fewer opiate drugs and crave them less. This is a significant finding considering that nearly 6 percent of Americans use prescription medication for chronic pain each year, mostly addictive opiates that are now known to enhance pain symptoms with long-term use.
