BACKGROUND Lung cancer is a common disease with high mortality, and psychological support is very important in the diagnosis and treatment of postoperative patients with cancer pain. AIM To explore the application effect of the narrative nursing method in postoperative lung cancer patients in the intensive care unit. METHODS A total of 120 patients diagnosed with lung cancer and experiencing cancer-related pain were randomly allocated into two groups: an observation group and a control group, each consisting of 60 cases. The control group was given routine analgesic and psychological care, while the research group applied the five-step narrative nursing method based on routine care, comparing the visual analogue scale scores, sleep status, anxiety and depression status, and quality of life of the two groups of patients before and after the intervention. RESULTS The pain scores, anxiety scores, and depression scores of the study group were lower than those of the control group after the intervention using the narrative nursing method, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Using narrative nursing methods to intervene in patients with lung cancer combined with cancerous pain can help patients to correctly recognize their disease, adjust their mentality, establish confidence, alleviate patients' subjective pain feelings, and improve their adverse emotions.