Can You Cure Chronic Pain with Your Mind?
July 19th 2011 06:39
It's not surprising that everyday life brings on aches and pains. Hours spent sitting in front of a computer screen, doing work around the house, and handling the tensions of life can take a toll on the intricate workings of the musculoskeletal system.
5 Most Common Types of Pain
Migraine/headache
Back
Joint/arthritis
Overuse/strain injuries
Arm/Leg/musculoskeletal
Over-the-counter pain medications and heat or cold treatments can provide relief for occasional pain. But when your headache, backache, or muscular pain continues or recurs over many months, you have chronic pain, and it can seriously disrupt your quality of life.
A recent study revealed that nearly half of chronic pain cases have no clear cause, and that 25% of patients with head or back pain were still experiencing symptoms 12 months after visiting their doctor.
You may not have to live with chronic pain. Some experts assert that rather than mask or tolerate chronic pain, you may be able to stop it by learning to regulate your body with the power of your mind.
How Do Mind-Body Interventions Work?
Mind-body advocates contend that you have more power over your pain than you realize. Your brain and central nervous system are connected and constantly talk to each other, sending and receiving signals such as pain messages. Typically, these messages result from injury or illness and stop once the body is healed. Mind-body interventions are based on the idea that this messaging system can break down, causing miscommunication between the mind and body.
When pain messaging systems break down, constant or chronic pain messages may be sent even after the original cause of the pain is fully healed. Pain treatment programs that use mind–body interventions help interrupt these pain messages and reestablish healthy communication along the nerve paths to the brain.
You Do Have Control Over Pain
Over the past few decades, a wealth of research has confirmed that mind–body therapies, either alone or with other treatments, may help cure various types of pain and prevent pain recurrence. Techniques that were once considered complementary or alternative, such as, behavioral therapy, biofeedback, cognitive therapy, guided/visual imagery, hypnosis, meditation, and relaxation therapy have now become mainstream.
Studies have demonstrated the usefulness of various mind-body interventions in the management of many types of pain, such as migraine or tension-type headaches, fibromyalgia, acute sciatica, and several other conditions for which no specific cause has been found.
Your Chronic Pain: What's Mixing Up the Messages?
Feelings of anxiety, tension, anger, or depression could cause a disconnection between your mind and body. When your brain is frequently forced to respond to such emotions, it essentially rewires itself to keep up with the barrage of negative stimuli. As a result, your brain may send erroneous pain messages to your body. With mind-body intervention, the first step is to examine your behaviors and environment with a doctor or therapist to identify factors that may be causing the pain reaction. The next step is to develop more productive ways to handle the stressors that you face every day so that you have more control over your physiological response to these emotions. Depending on your condition, this process may take only a few weeks or may become a regular part of your health routine.
Approach with Caution
Whether you are recovering from illness, injury, or surgery or are unsure what's causing your pain, do some homework before you dive into this pain therapy. First, check with your healthcare provider to rule out the possibility of a more serious condition. Then, get advice on reputable practitioners and mind-body treatment centers available in your area. Also, be aware that not all are covered by health insurance, so cost may be a consideration.
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Comment by Quintin Watt
Sometimes, in a minority of cases I would say, this may be due to some actual ongoing or on-setting illness or disability .. and, if at all worried, one should, of course, consult a doctor.
More often, as the article rightly suggests, it will be due to some kind of injury or tissue strain; usually minor, local and recent - in which case, a medical doctor or trained nurse may be able to help.
But often, especially if it is recurrent, perennial or long-standing (but not severe or acute), then it may be due, as the article again righly suggests, to some old injury, or series or even 'concatenation' of these (This last is a term I use quite a lot, and it has a specific meaning ... you'd have to read my forthcoming book to thoroughly see what I am getting at here) and these old, long since passed in physical reality, injuries and minor tissue damages, or even minor illnesses in some cases, can become, as it were, 'locked up' in some body part or body parts.
Acupuncture and the whole art or para-science of this (it is still not yet widely accepted, in the Western world at least, as a true science); this has one whole theoretical explanation for this curious phenomenon; a phenomenon which still baffles and confounds most conventional medics. Yoga and other mental-physical-spiritual arts of India and the far East; these have other kinds of explanations. The highly eccentric American hack science fiction writer turned practical philosopher L.R.Hubbard (1911-1986) - whose work and teachings I have also studied (ECLECTICALLY I must emphasise - for I do by no means agree with everything he said and wrote and I am certainly not any 'card carrying' member of his infamous so-called 'church of scientology') - he had yet another set of (intriguing!) theoretical explanations for what he called these 'somatics'.
Actually, the term 'psychosomatic' or 'psychosomatic illnesses' was first coined by Heinroth in 1817 (though he sought to apply this to problems of insomnia ... a field in which I have also sought to help many of my clients - but another subject altogether). However, it was, of course, Freud's work (from around 1900), especially using hypnosis as a means to try and address these curious phenomena (influenced at first as he was in this by his correspondence with Groddeck), which made the term widely known. Hubbard, in his own highly eccentric way, was influenced by this.
Hubbard, as in so many other things in fact, was, I believe, half right or partly right about all this - as are yoga, acupuncture and other Eastern or quasi-'mystic'/quasi-spiritual and mental theoretical explanations for all this. Basically, it is down to the idea that the body has an invisible 'energy field' of its own (quite other than the brain and central nervous system) and that this has its own 'nodes' , 'junctions' or 'relay points' (my terms by the way); Hubbard called them 'anchor points' ... and it is in these that old injuries, even some going back to early childhood, can become, as it were, 'locked up', grumbling/rumbling, troublesome, chronic or recurring as they may well be. Yet a doctor, specialist or surgeon will find no obvious physical reason why.
I stress that this old cliche 'It's all psychological' is NO help at all here; not in understanding this - despite the wide and popular misuse of the Freudian (and post-Freudian) terminology - if by this we mean (as many crassly suggest) 'it's all in your mind', 'it's not real', 'forget about it' ... and so on. No. It really is NOT nearly so crude and simplistic as that. Neither can we, often, by any means, try as we might, simply 'forget it' and hope it will go away. It won't!!
UNDERSTANDING all this, obversely, and the 'how come'/'how came' and the 'why' of all this CAN actually bring benefits in itself. And some kinds of "alternative" therapies (I hate that term!); such as acupuncture, massage of various kinds, Tai Chi (of the less brutal kind!), yoga (of the less brutal kind!), some kinds of heat treatments and bathing treatments (even sauna, if correctly used) and even swimming, even just regular floating in deep tepid water ... these can all help. Some osteopaths can help too (but, again: only if they are not too brutal. They must be chosen with care!).
Hypnotherapy may - or it may not. I say this guardedly, even though I do use hypno-therapeutic techniques (among many other things!) myself. You will note, in this context, that I prefer to call myself
a Mental and Spiritual Healer rather than a hypnotist or hypnotherapist. You could spend a fortune and be no better off at all if you are not clear and consistent as to what you want and expect here, and within what (realistically useful) time frame ... before you hand over any money, or even sign up to a course of treatment. I myself never demand that any of my clients sign up in advance to any course of treatment, for I believe that they will, of their own volition, return for further sessions so long as it is still helping them (and NOT, I will add, beyond that point!)
Even some straightforward medical doctors and medical scientists are now beginning to explore a theory that the body itself has these additional 'awareness centres', quite apart from the brain and nervous system, and that these may exist at a cellular, or even sub-cellular level. This would make sense, wouldn't it, when we consider that we all evolved (over a period of around three and a half thousand million years) from simple single-celled organisms, and considering also all we now know about how our body cells replicate and replace. Not one single cell of your body, in fact, or mine, is the same actual cell as you were born with, or even had half a dozen years ago; they have all been replaced (gradually; that is one by one) in that time - and many times over the course of an entire lifetime. Much of this goes on while your body sleeps - which is one reason why regular quality sleep and sufficient of it daily or nightly is essential for good health and a healthy lifestyle.
One possible explanation for why our bodies age, in fact, may lie within a development of this (still as yet largely unexplored) field; a theory being that as cells replicate over and over again in the course of a lifetime (much as would be the case, say, when we go on making reprographic copies of copies of copies etc.; or of DVD's and their content, say) then increasingly poorer quality of duplication (and thus deterioration) tells. And this may be why (to quote that old kid's nursery rhyme!) old men - and presumably old women too - are made of 'moans and groans and poor aching bones'. Hmmmm!
Well, I say it doesn't have to be that way! Keeping your body fit and healthy (including healthy diet, of course, and abstinence from the self-abuses of excessive alcohol, smoking and of street drugs) .. and, indeed, many of the tips I mentioned on katyzzz's preceding thread 'Reduce Back Pain Without Pills' (which see); these actually can all help to slow (not actually halt altogether; that is impossible!) the aging process and especially the tragic degenerative condition (both mental and physical, alas) which eventually sends so many elderly relatives and loved ones (in the Western world) into institutional care homes, there to finish out the end of their lives. I HATE these places and would strongly UN-recommend them to anyone, except as a desperate and ultimate last resort, with their utterly ruinous charges ... and those (and I speak from first-hand knowledge and experience here) the only real motivation of all who run and manage them (the overworked and appallingly poorly paid staff who try to care in these dismal places being another matter).
This post is already long (!) BUT WHAT CAN YOU DO? I mean: practically and realistically, about all this. IS there any way to help alleviate and ameliorate all such bodily aches and pains (especially as they begin to trouble you more and more with advancing age)? YES THERE IS!!! - and (here's the good news!) you can do this for yourself or for a loved one - and (here's the even better news!): IT WON'T COST YOU A PENNY (OR A RED CENT!). It is a technique which I use often and to help my clients. It is my own technique and it requires only a modicum of training to be both effective and beneficial. WHAT IS IT? WHAT'S THE SECRET?
Watch this space (as they say!) CLOSELY ..... for my next post on this thread - hopefully coming within the next 24 hours!
Best Wishes Jeff Watt, Mental and Spiritual Healer
Comment by katyzzz
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Comment by Quintin Watt
As promised, then, the answer to my question (and yours, too, I would guess): what can we do about all those stubborn, recurrent, perennial and ever more troublesome (with advancing age) aches, pains, discomforts 'locked up' (as I described in my previous post) in so many body parts, old and obsolescent, with no discernible physical cause, and so baffling to medics of all ilk, as well as baffling to ourselves .. but yet which just will not go away???
ANSWER: ACUPOINTURE.
NB: The spelling; acupointure, NOT acupuncture!
[WARNING: This is a registered trademark - so don't go using this term yourself (certainly not professionally!) without my permission will you .. or trying to claim it as your own (especially not for profit!) - or I'll sue you!]
SO, how is this different from acupuncture? Well, as you probably figured, it's my own unique development, based on quite a bit of study and research and it is based on some of the same principles as acupuncture (about the body's invisible 'energy field' with its own 'nodes', 'junction points' and 'relay points' (these are my own terms, and largely my own concepts) - as I described in my previous post on this thread, above (which see)). But my acupointure has been developed from a number of theoretical principles, actually. It's different from acupuncture in two very important respects:
1) It does NOT involve sticking pins (or anything at all, in fact) into my clients.
2) It is not necessary for me to touch the client at all. They do this themselves. This is a very important difference, for two reasons:-
a) It places the client in control of their own body and its energy fields (and thus places them in control of their own pain and injuries and of the curing of these).
b) It means that, as I mentioned in the above (preceding) post, with just a modicum of training, ANYONE can do this for themselves - or else can do this for a friend or loved one. You are going to get that 'modicum of training' right here and right now!
Does it work? You'd better believe it! It's not a miracle cure: it won't make you live for ever or offer you the secret of eternal youth! Neither is it, of course, a substitute for proper medical attention, when this is clearly needed (e.g. when you break a bone, or twist a sinew, say, or pull a muscle) and neither should it be used as a substitute for proper medical attention in the case of the onset or ongoing symptoms of any genuine illness or disability (as I have also mentioned in the above preceding post on this thread (which see)). However, it can even help - as an addition to proper medical attention - in the case of many minor injuries or even in the aftermath of some surgeries, and it will help too, if properly and regularly used, to expedite recovery times. Furthermore, it is most helpful for pretty much every other kind of (largely unexplained) ache, pain or discomfort, especially, as I have said, of the stubborn and recurring kind. I have used it often myself, including, too, on friends and family, as well as with my clients, of course, They report it as always beneficial and, if correctly used and as I shall describe here, it is never harmful.
PREPARATION
OKAY: To be effective, it is best, if you can (or they can) , to be reclining and relaxed. If at all possible, you (or they) should be in a position where the back (especiailly the spine, if possible) can also be reached. It is not necessary to undress nor even remove clothing, but heavy shoes or thick gloves or hats of any kind should be removed, You'll see why. What you will do, in fact, is to place a finger - or get them to place a finger - usually the index finger or middle finger (very precisely, very accurately, firmly but not too hard) on a series of highly specific spots on your (or their) body:. in fact, as it were, 'pointing' to these; hence acupointure. However, the finger must make actual and accurate CONTACT, if it is to work. Please be aware, though, that you are actually doing something much, much more profound, and for the balance of your (or their) body's energy fields - and thus for recovery - than just some kind of kindergarten exercise in identifying parts of our bodies! Okay? I always begin by getting my clients to identify for me, very specifically, very precisely and very accurately - so far as they possibly can - exactly where the pain/discomfort is. It is MOST important to do this, and you will soon see why.
BEGIN BY IDENTIFYING THE PAIN SPOT OR SPOTS EXACTLY
Thus: 'a pain in my ankle': this is not at all specific enough. 'A pain on this protruding bone here [showing me] of my left inner ankle'. This is much more use! If a person does not have the use of language (e.g a young child, say, or a person who speaks little English) then they can show as well as tell. It is, however, vital to be specific. As you will see, this very specific identification of the pain spot is a vital first step in the process, The healing begins thus, in fact. Always re-confirm this with the loved one or yourself, or whoever has the pain, so that you are (both) perfectly clear. You don't need to necessarily use correct anatomical terms, as long as you (both) understand. If there is a pain in more than one place, then identify (with equal precision and accuracy) ALL the pain spots: e.g. 'a pain here in my lower jaw, along the right side of, and underneath, these teeth here [showing me where], and also here right under my right cheek bone, thus [showing me]' - and so on.
Or it may not necessarily be pain in a bone or sinew or connective tissue at all; it could, for example, be in a 'soft' place; like the stomach or the abdomen, say - but still be VERY specific with them (and/or with yourself); 'a stomach ache'; this is far too vague;'a pain right here directly under my navel': this is much more use. Obviously, if there are other symptoms, such as, say, nausea, dizziness, chills etc. then you may well need to get them (or yourself) to a doctor or get something from the pharmacist or from your own medicine cabinet. However, the acupointure can still help. Always, though, be sensitive to where the pains and discomforts are, and to their (or your) general physical condition e.g. with a frail or very elderly or obese person, or with a perosn who is feeling very sick generally. In such cases, do not demand (or attempt on yourself) 'acrobatics' or too much body movement, especially when getting them (or yourself) to touch extremities. ..... Okay, so, that's step one ...
START AS FAR AWAY FROM THIS PAIN SPOT OR PAIN SPOTS AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN
THEN, you do something which may seem very odd! It's not odd at all, actually, and it works like a dream, I promise you! You begin as far AWAY from the pain spot/pain spots as possible (I won't go into the theoretical reasons for this, right now!). For example, in the case above, where the sufferer was complaining of pain on the protruding bone of their left inner ankle; here you might start at the the very top of the RIGHT shoulder bone, say, or maybe on the very tip of the nose. In the case of the sufferer complaining of pain in the lower right jaw and below those teeth, as well as under the right cheek bone, you might start, say, at the very tip of the middle toe of their LEFT foot - or right under the centre of the ball of their LEFT foot ... and so on. In the case of a pain directly under the navel, you might start at the very top of the crown of the head, say, or, alternatively, at the tip of the longest finger of the right hand (or it could equally well be tip of the longest finger of the left hand - but ALWAYS be specific and accurate! NEVER be vague! ) NB: THREE IMPORTANT POINTS HERE:-
1) THEY (THE SUFFERER) TOUCH, THE THERAPIST DOES NOT. DO NOT touch the person yourself (unless you are doing it to yourself). You may need to point (WITHOUT actually touching) for their clarity and understanding, but ALWAYS make sure that they (or you, if you're the sufferer) DO actually touch it - firmly, accurately and gently. NEVER invalidate, if they seem to get it wrong; simply ask (something like) 'Was that the centre of the back of your left knee? or whatever' or, with a child perhaps, 'Was that exactly where we said?' ('We' is better than 'I said' - as you are doing this together!). Give clear, simple direct commands always. Repeat where necessary. If they (or you) become upset or other emotions turn out, still persevere - it is, actually, all part of the healing process. These emotions will pass (usually). It is NOT a test of how well they (or even you, if you're the sufferer) can carry out instructions. It is a therapy. Remember that. NEVER, EVER get annoyed or angry. Be patient and understanding, but persistent.
You can make sure they (or you) actually touched it by asking something like 'Did you feel your finger?'. If it's 'no' or they (or you) are unsure then simply repeat. IF YOU ARE DOING IT TO YOURSELF, STILL GIVE YOURSELF THESE CLEAR, EXACT, DIRECT COMMANDS .....AND SAY THEM OUT LOUD. It's a vital part of the therapy that you do so. If the sufferer touches a different part from what was said, but still insists that they they touched what was indicated, just accept that and carry on with the next. NEVER ARGUE!
2) ALTERNATE sides of the body, turn by turn and, when touching something on the left side of the body, use the RIGHT finger; when touching something on the right side, use the LEFT finger. When touching parts of the face or head, alternate fingers. This ensures the proper balance. In your commands, always indicate with WHICH FINGER!
3) START FAR AWAY - AND GRADUALLY MOVE A LITTLE NEARER (TO THE PAIN SPOT OR PAIN SPOTS) EACH TIME. Do not keep touching the same points in the body. If you begin, say, with the tip of the middle toe of the right foot, then next touch, say, the middle of the knee cap of the LEFT leg, then, say, just inside the RIGHT hip .... and so on. Suppose, in this case, the pain was in the lower spine just above the tailbone, you would then move AWAY again - say, next, to the top of the RIGHT shoulder, then, say, the back of the neck - with the LEFT finger ... and so on. ALWAYS make your commands specific and exact. 'Touch your left foot'; far too vague! 'Touch the instep of your left foot, just above the bridge' (indicating, if necessary) 'with your right middle finger'; that's much better! NEVER specify 'with the other finger' or, say, 'the other toe' - far too vague! It's not the 'other' this or that, it's the LEFT or RIGHT. Okay?
FURTHER STAGES
There will, usually, be several stages to this therapy session. Each time you will begin then just a little less far away from the pain spot or pain spots and will end up closer to to it - until eventually (usually, I find this would be about the third stage) you are actually working right around, then on, it. For example: say the pain spots were just below the left eyebrow ridge and seemingly behind the left eye, you might have started first time at the tip of the left (opposite side of body, remember!) little toe, and ended up, say, under the chin - still alternating fingers every turn, of course. The second stage, you might have started, say, in the very centre of the upper chest and ended, say, just above the left upper cheekbone - still alternating fingers, of course! The third (probably, final) time, you might start, say, in the middle of the right armpit (with finger of left hand, of course) and ended up actually working all around the pain spots on the left eyebrow ridge and (with the left eyelid closed for that, obviously!) working gently around the left eyelid.
Do you get the idea?
OUTCOMES
For how long should you continue? How long should it take? What if I (or they) still feel no better? What if I (or they) actually start to feel worse?
Okay! Good questions!
You should expect it to take around twenty minutes, or maybe less, usually, I find. Remember; you do not actually need to be touching every centimetre of your (or getting them to touch every centimetre of their) body, moving by such tiny amounts each time. I find it most useful to ask at the end of each stage something like 'How do you feel?' or 'Does it feel any better?' If they (or you) feel no better then proceed to the next stage. Usually, in my experience, the response will be, at the end of stage one 'A bit better' or 'Better but still a bit painful' and so on .... in which case, continue. I always ask, at the end of each stage, if they are happy for me to continue. Nearly always, the response is 'yes'.
It can sometimes happen that you (or they) will start to feel worse for a little while - just as, as I said, occasionally, other emotions can turn up. Usually, in my experience, this will be fairly early on - say, during or near the end of, stage one. Unless the person is in really intense pain (which is rare - or they would have needed urgent medical attention in the first place, normally, in that case), or unless they refuse to go on, then I will continue. In my experience, this almost always passes. It is part of the healing process. Please be sensible about this, won't you, and use your judgement. I have already said, also, how important it is to take into account the person's physical frailty or general feeling of good (or ill) health, haven't I? If in doubt, ever at all, always consult a trained medical doctor.
If they (or you) still feel no better - even at the end of stage three? This may happen, though I find this rather rare. It may be that there is something more serious wrong here - in which case, yes, also get medical help. Or it may be that medication that has just been taken needs more time to work ... in which case, perhaps try again later or another time. Or it may be that the pain is a persistent 'nag' kind of pain (but yet has no obvious physical cause) ... in which case, sometimes little daily, or regular, sessions may be indicated.
PLEASE REMEMBER: This is NOT intended to replace any necessary medical treatment and, if you (or they) are on any prescribed medication, do not stop this without consulting a qualified medical doctor. Okay?
ABOUT THE SPINE
Remember that I said it is best, if at all possible, for the sufferer also to be able to touch their back if they can? Many of these pain 'concatenations' as I call them (refer again to my previous post about this on this thread, above (which see)) can actually 'snarl up', so to speak in the back, and especially the spine. Backaches, in fact, like headaches (which can also involve concatenations of pain spots) are a whole more complex subject. I say a lot more about these in the (downloadable) opus (on my forthcoming website) "Like I Need A Sore Head (Or A Bad Back)?".
NEVERTHELESS: always do, wherever at all possible, include the back, and especially points on the spine, when you use this acupointure therapy, won't you? It really does help!
I have even been able to help elderly people who are losing the use of their limbs (NB: I am not claiming here to be able to do a Jesus Christ and say 'take up you bed and walk'!) and a middle-aged lady recovering from the after trauma of heart surgery - but for whom her orthodox physiotherapy was apparently just not helping. Can't promise you miracles ... but I share this with you for free because I like to help. Okay? Try it!
Good luck! Jeff Watt , Mental and Spiritual Healer