Continuous silent prayer when in the throes of suffering works positive wonders; the worse the suffering the shorter the prayer but praying does help.
I remember St. Therese of Jesus found that when a cross is embraced, one does not have the same pain as before and no longer feels it. She certainly was an example of prolonged intense physical suffering, as well as, later, psychological sufferings inflicted by those who didn't understand her or as she says in her Life, those who could have been discrete when she confided in them, but who God permitted to not be, and to reveal.
She specifically states this doesn't refer to breaking the seal of confession. It relates to matters which did cause great psychological pain when certain things were made public meaning, in her monastery at the time and even outside it I think because the men from whom it had been suggested to her that she seek guidance and in whom she had been led to confide, talked. As I wrote she took it as God's permissive will.
This is another example of how Protestantism pales in comparison with Catholic thinking: the first time I encountered positive vs permissive will was after I had had the time to follow up on a life long interest in the Catholic Church and Catholic thinking.