Post by the Scribe on Aug 27, 2021 6:29:31 GMT
Pain Psychology Center
www.painpsychologycenter.com/
HOW IT WORKS
VIDEO
www.painpsychologycenter.com/how-it-works.html#video
SAMPLE PODCAST SESSION
www.painpsychologycenter.com/how-it-works.html#sample-podcast-session
The Pain Psychology Center is a facility specializing in the treatment of chronic pain.
Recent studies have shown that chronic back pain, neck pain, fibromyalgia symptoms, repetitive strain injury, headaches, and other forms of chronic pain are often not the result of structural causes, but of psychophysiologic processes that can be reversed.1,2,3 This is known as neuroplastic pain.
Pain is a danger signal. Normally when we injure ourselves, the body sends signals to the brain informing us of tissue damage, and we feel pain. But sometimes, the brain can make a mistake! Neuroplastic pain results from the brain misinterpreting safe messages from the body as if they were dangerous. In other words, neuroplastic pain is a false alarm.
Though the pain can be addressed psychologically, this does not imply that the pain is imaginary. In fact, brain imaging studies have demonstrated that the pain is quite real.4 Recent research has shown that pain is often the result of learned neural pathways in the brain.5 And just as pain can be learned, it can also be unlearned.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy
We’ve developed a treatment approach called Pain Reprocessing Therapy that aims to rewire neural pathways in the brain in order to deactivate pain. Pain Reprocessing Therapy is a system of psychological techniques that retrains the brain to respond to signals from the body properly, and subsequently break the cycle of chronic pain.
One of the central techniques of Pain Reprocessing Therapy is somatic tracking. Somatic tracking is a combination of mindfulness, safety reappraisal, and positive affect induction. The purpose of somatic tracking is to help patients attend to the painful sensation through a distinct lens of safety, thus deactivating the pain signal.
An example of somatic tracking can be found in the following session excerpt, conducted at a recent training:
soundcloud.com/alantgordon/ep4-v8-mixdown-0001
Often, chronic pain patients develop conditioned responses – the brain creates an association between certain physical activities and the onset of pain (i.e. walking leads to back pain, typing leads to wrist pain, etc.) Another component of Pain Reprocessing Therapy involves helping patients break these associations, so that patients can engage in physical activities without pain.
In the following clip, Felicia has developed a conditioned response where she has neck pain every time she turns her head. By by getting several corrective experiences, she's able to break the cycle and turn her head, pain-free.
As we mentioned earlier, pain is a danger signal. And while it's important to teach the brain to reinterpret that signal as non-dangerous, it's also important to promote general feelings of safety overall. Learning to comfort yourself, not with logic or rationale, but on an emotional level can help teach the primitive part of you that you're safe, thus reducing symptoms.
The following session excerpt with Mandi exemplifies this concept.
soundcloud.com/alantgordon
These are simply several examples, and are not meant to serve as a comprehensive overview of our approach. Although therapists at the Pain Psychology Center follow a general model, treatment is specifically tailored for each patient based on individual needs.
For further information about the evidence behind Pain Reprocessing Therapy as well as the research behind neuroplastic pain, visit our evidence page. www.painpsychologycenter.com/evidence.html
If you are a clinician interested in becoming certified in Pain Reprocessing Therapy, visit our training website here. www.painreprocessingtherapy.com/
THERAPY TECHNIQUES
COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY
PSYCHODYNAMIC THERAPY
INTENSIVE SHORT-TERM DYNAMIC PSYCHOTHERAPY
HYPNOTHERAPY / GUIDED MEDITATION
MINDFULNESS TRAINING
In addition to Pain Reprocessing Therapy, clinicians at the Pain Psychology Center utilize a variety of treatment modalities including cognitive-behavioral therapy, psychodynamic therapy, ISTDP, hypnotherapy, guided meditation, and mindfulness training.
www.painpsychologycenter.com/how-it-works.html#PRT
COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY
Cognitive-behavioral therapy generally refers to the practice of working toward understanding and altering the thoughts and feelings that influence behaviors, but it has a specific application with regard to the treatment of physical symptoms. Many pain sufferers think about their symptoms all the time; mostly from a perspective of fear: “Will this pain ever go away?” “Wait- is it better or worse than it was yesterday?” “How am I ever going to have kids if I can’t even lift them?”
This very common type of thinking can actually perpetuate symptoms, as the fear and preoccupation around the pain often serves as a reinforcing agent. Therapists at the Pain Psychology Center utilize a cognitive-behavioral approach to help patients better understand the connection between the relationship with their pain and the perpetuation of their symptoms. This relationship can be examined and altered to help break the pain cycle.
PSYCHODYNAMIC THERAPY
As children, we take the messages that we receive from our parents as gospel. If they criticize us, our little brains think it is because we deserve it. If we aren’t paid very much attention, we think it must be because we don’t matter very much. We internalize these messages and as we get older, and they shape the way we see ourselves and experience the world.
Psychodynamic therapy involves making the connection between our experiences growing up and the way those experiences affect the way we currently think, feel, and act. Often, exploring the events that led to the way we presently think and feel, can bring a new kind of clarity to the way we see ourselves, and can free us to experience life in a more positive and fulfilling way.
INTENSIVE SHORT-TERM DYNAMIC PSYCHOTHERAPY
ISTDP is a unique form of therapy that gets to the heart of underlying emotions by targeting psychological defense mechanisms. Often, repressing emotions can lead to the development of physical symptoms. Identifying and disarming defense mechanisms can help access difficult-to-tolerate emotions, alleviating the need for the symptoms.
HYPNOTHERAPY / GUIDED MEDITATION
Often, when we are in a relaxed state, our unconscious mind is more open to suggestion, and many of our normal defense mechanisms are dormant. This can allow access to feelings that are more closely guarded in a conscious state, and can result in change at a deeper level.
Relaxation exercises can also help to slow down the breathing and reduce heart rate. With practice, the body can actually be retrained to live in a calmer state. This can be a big relief to those who currently carry around tension on a daily basis.
MINDFULNESS TRAINING
According to John Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness means paying attention: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.
Buddhists have been practicing this technique for thousands of years, but only recently has western science shown the profound ways that mindfulness practice can quite literally change the structure of the brain in a very positive way.
This technique has been shown to have a significant impact on the reduction of depression, anxiety, and pain.
www.painpsychologycenter.com/
HOW IT WORKS
VIDEO
www.painpsychologycenter.com/how-it-works.html#video
SAMPLE PODCAST SESSION
www.painpsychologycenter.com/how-it-works.html#sample-podcast-session
The Pain Psychology Center is a facility specializing in the treatment of chronic pain.
Recent studies have shown that chronic back pain, neck pain, fibromyalgia symptoms, repetitive strain injury, headaches, and other forms of chronic pain are often not the result of structural causes, but of psychophysiologic processes that can be reversed.1,2,3 This is known as neuroplastic pain.
Pain is a danger signal. Normally when we injure ourselves, the body sends signals to the brain informing us of tissue damage, and we feel pain. But sometimes, the brain can make a mistake! Neuroplastic pain results from the brain misinterpreting safe messages from the body as if they were dangerous. In other words, neuroplastic pain is a false alarm.
Though the pain can be addressed psychologically, this does not imply that the pain is imaginary. In fact, brain imaging studies have demonstrated that the pain is quite real.4 Recent research has shown that pain is often the result of learned neural pathways in the brain.5 And just as pain can be learned, it can also be unlearned.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy
We’ve developed a treatment approach called Pain Reprocessing Therapy that aims to rewire neural pathways in the brain in order to deactivate pain. Pain Reprocessing Therapy is a system of psychological techniques that retrains the brain to respond to signals from the body properly, and subsequently break the cycle of chronic pain.
One of the central techniques of Pain Reprocessing Therapy is somatic tracking. Somatic tracking is a combination of mindfulness, safety reappraisal, and positive affect induction. The purpose of somatic tracking is to help patients attend to the painful sensation through a distinct lens of safety, thus deactivating the pain signal.
An example of somatic tracking can be found in the following session excerpt, conducted at a recent training:
soundcloud.com/alantgordon/ep4-v8-mixdown-0001
Often, chronic pain patients develop conditioned responses – the brain creates an association between certain physical activities and the onset of pain (i.e. walking leads to back pain, typing leads to wrist pain, etc.) Another component of Pain Reprocessing Therapy involves helping patients break these associations, so that patients can engage in physical activities without pain.
In the following clip, Felicia has developed a conditioned response where she has neck pain every time she turns her head. By by getting several corrective experiences, she's able to break the cycle and turn her head, pain-free.
As we mentioned earlier, pain is a danger signal. And while it's important to teach the brain to reinterpret that signal as non-dangerous, it's also important to promote general feelings of safety overall. Learning to comfort yourself, not with logic or rationale, but on an emotional level can help teach the primitive part of you that you're safe, thus reducing symptoms.
The following session excerpt with Mandi exemplifies this concept.
soundcloud.com/alantgordon
These are simply several examples, and are not meant to serve as a comprehensive overview of our approach. Although therapists at the Pain Psychology Center follow a general model, treatment is specifically tailored for each patient based on individual needs.
For further information about the evidence behind Pain Reprocessing Therapy as well as the research behind neuroplastic pain, visit our evidence page. www.painpsychologycenter.com/evidence.html
If you are a clinician interested in becoming certified in Pain Reprocessing Therapy, visit our training website here. www.painreprocessingtherapy.com/
THERAPY TECHNIQUES
COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY
PSYCHODYNAMIC THERAPY
INTENSIVE SHORT-TERM DYNAMIC PSYCHOTHERAPY
HYPNOTHERAPY / GUIDED MEDITATION
MINDFULNESS TRAINING
In addition to Pain Reprocessing Therapy, clinicians at the Pain Psychology Center utilize a variety of treatment modalities including cognitive-behavioral therapy, psychodynamic therapy, ISTDP, hypnotherapy, guided meditation, and mindfulness training.
www.painpsychologycenter.com/how-it-works.html#PRT
COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY
Cognitive-behavioral therapy generally refers to the practice of working toward understanding and altering the thoughts and feelings that influence behaviors, but it has a specific application with regard to the treatment of physical symptoms. Many pain sufferers think about their symptoms all the time; mostly from a perspective of fear: “Will this pain ever go away?” “Wait- is it better or worse than it was yesterday?” “How am I ever going to have kids if I can’t even lift them?”
This very common type of thinking can actually perpetuate symptoms, as the fear and preoccupation around the pain often serves as a reinforcing agent. Therapists at the Pain Psychology Center utilize a cognitive-behavioral approach to help patients better understand the connection between the relationship with their pain and the perpetuation of their symptoms. This relationship can be examined and altered to help break the pain cycle.
PSYCHODYNAMIC THERAPY
As children, we take the messages that we receive from our parents as gospel. If they criticize us, our little brains think it is because we deserve it. If we aren’t paid very much attention, we think it must be because we don’t matter very much. We internalize these messages and as we get older, and they shape the way we see ourselves and experience the world.
Psychodynamic therapy involves making the connection between our experiences growing up and the way those experiences affect the way we currently think, feel, and act. Often, exploring the events that led to the way we presently think and feel, can bring a new kind of clarity to the way we see ourselves, and can free us to experience life in a more positive and fulfilling way.
INTENSIVE SHORT-TERM DYNAMIC PSYCHOTHERAPY
ISTDP is a unique form of therapy that gets to the heart of underlying emotions by targeting psychological defense mechanisms. Often, repressing emotions can lead to the development of physical symptoms. Identifying and disarming defense mechanisms can help access difficult-to-tolerate emotions, alleviating the need for the symptoms.
HYPNOTHERAPY / GUIDED MEDITATION
Often, when we are in a relaxed state, our unconscious mind is more open to suggestion, and many of our normal defense mechanisms are dormant. This can allow access to feelings that are more closely guarded in a conscious state, and can result in change at a deeper level.
Relaxation exercises can also help to slow down the breathing and reduce heart rate. With practice, the body can actually be retrained to live in a calmer state. This can be a big relief to those who currently carry around tension on a daily basis.
MINDFULNESS TRAINING
According to John Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness means paying attention: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.
Buddhists have been practicing this technique for thousands of years, but only recently has western science shown the profound ways that mindfulness practice can quite literally change the structure of the brain in a very positive way.
This technique has been shown to have a significant impact on the reduction of depression, anxiety, and pain.