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There are a number of ways to deal with pain that will lessen its intense effects or make it easier to withstand. Pain actually "hurts" less if a person feels in control and is not anxious. The ability to focus on something other than the hurting or to mask the pain in another way are also a helpful techniques to use to mitigate the effects of pain. Many of these ways to reduce pain are …

…can also lessen its effects. The gate control theory indicates the pain messages from different nerves pass through the same neural gate. If the gate can be closed by one pain message, the other pain message(s) can not get through. This form of pain control technique is called counter-irritation. Pain clinics and accupuncture use this technique to reduce chronic pain by activating a great number of small pain fibers, thus masking the chronic pain.