Chronic pain can be incredibly overwhelming, leaving you caught in a never-ending loop of discomfort and anxiety. This is often due to what's called the pain-fear cycle: when the fear of pain actually makes the pain worse, creating a vicious cycle that's tough to break. It's not just the physical pain that's problematic; the emotional strain and constant worry can make daily life feel like an uphill battle.
That’s where Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) comes in. This innovative approach is designed to tackle not just the physical aspects of pain but also the psychological ones, too. Pain Reprocessing Therapy works by helping you change the way your brain processes pain signals and by addressing the fears that amplify your pain.
In this post, we'll explore how PRT can help break the pain-fear cycle, offer a clearer picture of how it works, and share success stories from those that have eliminated pain with this therapy. If you’re looking for a way to find relief from chronic pain and the worry that comes with it, PRT might just be the answer.
The Pain-Fear Cycle Explained
There are receptors all over your body that monitor sensation. When they pick up on a sensation, they immediately send a signal to the brain and the brain will decide if the sensation is safe or if it’s dangerous. If the brain decides that a sensation is safe, you may feel a neutral, or even pleasant sensation. There’s even a chance that you don’t notice the sensation at all.
There are many, many sensations in your body -too many for your conscious mind to be thinking about – so many sensations that your brain decides are safe will go undetected by your conscious awareness. For example, if your brain has decided that the sensation of your body pressing down on the chair is safe, you may not even be aware of it until reading this sentence.
This happens all the time with different sensation in your body. Safe sensations don’t require your attention, and therefor may go unnoticed. However, if the signal from the receptors reaches your brain, and your brain decides that the sensation is dangerous, your brain will alert you in the form of pain.
When you feel pain, your instinctual reaction will be to fear it. That’s because fear is a danger signal letting you know something is wrong. However, when you feel fear, you actually amplify the pain, causing the sensation of pain to become more intense and painful. The more afraid you are of the pain, the more pain you feel.
You can think of it like when you fear the sensation of pain, you are reaffirming to your brain that the sensation is dangerous and it amplifies the message back to you in the form of pain.
This is an interesting thing to observe, and perhaps you can think of times in your own life when your fear of pain made the pain much worse. A great example of the fear causing pain is the story of a construction worker who stepped on a nail that went right through his work boot and poked out the top.
His immediate reaction to seeing the nail poking through the top of his boot was fear – and a lot of it! And he experienced excruciating pain. When he finally arrived at the hospital, the doctors were able to remove the boot, only to find that the nail actually went between his toes and didn’t pierce his skin at all.
All the pain he experienced came from the fear of pain. This is the Pain-Fear cycle in action. The more we fear the pain, the more pain we fear. His brain would have received signals from his body when the nail slipped between his toes, but because he was so afraid of the sensation, his brain interpreted it as dangerous, and he felt very intense pain.
Introduction to Pain Reprocessing Therapy
Pain Reprocessing Therapy is a technique that retrains the brain to interpret and respond to signals from the body properly, subsequently breaking the Pain-Fear cycle.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy has five main components:
· Education about the brain origins and reversibility of pain
· Gathering and reinforcing evidence for the brain origins and reversibility of pain
· Attending to and appraising pain sensations through a lens of safety
· Addressing other emotional threats
· Gravitating to positive feelings and sensations
In a pain reprocessing session, you will be guided to attend to the sensation in your body through a lens of safety. In other words, you are training your brain to see sensations in your body as though they are safe, not dangerous.
How Pain Reprocessing Therapy Breaks the Pain-Fear Cycle
Through this simple process you are able to help your brain interpret sensations through a lens of safety, and, in turn, break the Pain-Fear cycle. The amazing thing about this technique is that the moment your mind interprets sensations as safe, the pain immediately dissipates or disappears completely.
In most Pain Reprocessing Therapy sessions, my clients experience a decrease in pain within just 10-15 minutes of using the technique. This has been the case regardless of whether my client’s pain is in the form of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, IBS, migraines, back pain, joint pain, scoliosis, or pain from a prior injury. When the brain interprets the sensation as safe, the pain diminishes.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy Success Stories
Pain Reprocessing Therapy can be an incredible tool for those that experience chronic pain as it helps to break the Pain-Fear cycle and dimmish any pain that is caused by fear. I’ve personally experienced the power of Pain Reprocessing Therapy when my shoulder was causing me pain for several months without injury.
I discovered Pain Reprocessing Therapy and began to implement the process and within a few short weeks the shoulder pain was completely gone. My fear of something being wrong with my shoulder was initiating the Pain-Fear cycle and causing me to feel pain in my shoulder.
Once I was able to experience the pain without fear, the pain completely faded away. This has also been the case for dozens of my clients. Anything from migraines to arthritis, my clients have been able to break the Pain-Fear cycle and observe their pain completely fading away.
Is My Pain Neuroplastic?
Do you suffer from chronic pain or a chronic condition? Are you curious to know if your pain can be healed with a mind-body approach? Find out with my Neuroplastic Pain Quiz. Enter your details below and I'll send it straight to your inbox.
With this detailed, 30 question quiz you'll discover if your pain is neuroplastic and therefore, can be healed with Pain Reprocessing Therapy.
Conclusion
To sum it up, Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) offers a fresh and hopeful approach to breaking the pain-fear cycle that so many people struggle with. By addressing both the physical and psychological aspects of pain, PRT helps retrain your brain to handle pain in a healthier way and reduces the fear that can make it feel even worse. PRT works to shift your perspective and lessen the grip that chronic pain and anxiety can have on your life.
If you’re feeling trapped by persistent pain and the fear that it brings, PRT could be a game-changer. It’s about finding relief not just from the pain itself, but from the constant worry that surrounds it.
While starting a new therapy can feel daunting, remember that there are many success stories out there from people just like you. Taking the first step towards PRT could open up a path to a pain-free life. So why not explore this innovative approach and see how it might help you reclaim your comfort and well-being?
Next Steps
If you’d like to learn more about Pain Reprocessing Therapy, you can check out this article that answers common questions. Or, if you’re ready to live pain-free and want to start your journey with one-on-one support, you can book a Pain Reprocessing Session and get started on this journey right away.
I’m here if you have questions, or would like to meet with me to see which option is best for you. You can book a Free 30-minute Consultation where we can meet and chat about your specific experience.
Comments