 A painful experience can be considered an integration of information related to the stimuli itself –&amp;nbsp;nocioception -&amp;nbsp;and to an individual’s perception of that stimuli. These are referred to as “bottom up”&amp;nbsp;and “top down”&amp;nbsp;processing of pain where “bottom up”&amp;nbsp;is initiated with sensory input, and “top down”&amp;nbsp;begins with prior experience and knowledge associated with that stimulus. The role of negative emotions in “top down”&amp;nbsp;processing is well documented in experiencing pain, but research demonstrating mechanisms through which positive affect attenuates pain is an emerging field of study. Resilience Oriented Strategies target “top down”&amp;nbsp;processing to modulate attention paid to nocioceptive stimuli and to reduce perceived severity of the experience. Image credit:  Alex Sercel  with images licensed under  CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 . 