Physical pain & pain management

Pain

There are various ways to address pain through hypnotherapy. For some people pain displacement works better and for others dissociation works very well and for others…. You already understand, it is custom work. Of course, hypnotherapy is not a replacement for medical treatment, but it is often a good addition. Pain is a signal, a warning. And pain certainly has its use as a warning signal. Pain is an indicator and has a signaling and protective function against the occurrence or worsening of injury. Pain can be both physical and emotional. Pain can help you learn to listen to yourself and pain can also have a message.

Bottom line: Pain is useful!


Pain and the brain

The brain is very important in pain. You do not feel pain as long as the brain does not assess that there is danger, even if there is damage in muscles, joints, nerves or other tissues of the body. On the other hand, you may feel pain even though there is no damage.


A metaphor of pain in the brain

According to Butler and L. Moseley, our brain can be compared to a symphony orchestra. A well-trained orchestra can play many different melodies. If the collaboration is good, the instruments are not heard separately. Everything a person does, such as thinking, cycling, playing football, can be compared to the melodies that the orchestra plays. Pain is one of these melodies. A good orchestra can practice new melodies, but if it plays the same ones over and over again, it becomes a rut (chronic). This allows the orchestra to play on autopilot. Feeling chronic pain and constantly dealing with it, such as fighting the pain, gives the pain melody the upper hand. Creativity disappears and playing other melodies becomes more difficult. The orchestra becomes exhausted and understaffing occurs.

The premise of the orchestra model is that factors such as fear, unpleasant memories and damaged tissues can be part of the pain experience. The model shows that processes in the brain manifest themselves physically. Thoughts, ideas, fears and emotions are considered nerve impulses that have electrochemical effects in the brain. Pain requires strategies to influence the virtual body in the brain without activating a pain neural network.

In other words, one must know how to make the orchestra play without the pain melody.

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An example

A teenager came to me with her father because she had been suffering from chronic back pain for four years caused by a fall while playing sports. After more than four years of consultations in hospital and rehabilitation center, a second opinion was requested from child neurology in Nijmegen. She was in constant pain and when tired the pain became unbearable, which meant that school or doing fun things was almost impossible. The child neurologist recommended hypnotherapy and an intake interview was planned.

After an extensive intake interview, treatment follows. The trauma (the fall), the fright and the impact on the body ensured that even though the body (muscles) had already healed, the brain could not yet experience this. So it continued to send pain signals.

Techniques we have worked with include pain displacement, pain reduction and kinesthetic part work. After the treatment, the pain had dropped from level 7 to level 2. And with the suggestion that time and habituation would solve the rest, the teenager and father were very happy. She can go back to school and picks up things again.

Fortunately, we were able to achieve results very quickly with this client. The referral from the pediatric neurologist has helped to steer the brain in the right direction.

  • Why specialize in pain?

    As someone with personal experience, I understand what it’s like to experience pain or have low energy. Wanting to do something but simply not having the energy for it is a common struggle for me.


    Around the age of 30 (I can’t remember the exact timing since it’s been a while), I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. This diagnosis explained many of the aches and fatigue I had been experiencing, but it also meant that I needed to adjust my lifestyle. This included working less, asking for more help, and learning how to manage pain.


    Part of these adjustments involved managing my energy levels, which sometimes meant canceling plans at the last minute.


    As for pain, I've learned to reframe it as discomfort, allowing me to set it aside and focus on other things. I’ve found a new balance in my life. However, this balance can be disrupted by things like catching a cold, feeling unwell, or worrying about something. Thankfully, these disruptions are not frequent.


    To be clear, pain can be reframed and, especially when it’s not serving a purpose, set aside.


    Important note: Pain is a warning signal, so as long as it serves a functional purpose, it’s not advisable to ignore it.


    Additionally, it’s crucial to always investigate potential medical causes first.

  • What about the pain threshold?

    Sorry ladies, but: men have a higher pain threshold than women. This has been scientifically proven.


    The pain threshold is the point at which pain becomes unbearable. For individuals with a high pain threshold, it takes longer to reach this point, whereas those with a low pain threshold find pain unbearable more quickly.


    People respond to pain differently; some feel pain sooner than others. The body simply does not perceive pain until it reaches a certain level. The experience of pain is also influenced by factors such as the culture in which you were born, how you were raised, and your previous experiences.


    Additionally, fear plays a significant role in the perception of pain. Fear causes stress, which can intensify the sensation of pain, leading to a cycle where more pain causes more stress. According to some studies, people who are less afraid of pain tend to have a higher pain threshold.

  • Headache and tension

    Headaches caused by factors like tension, as well as migraines, serve a purpose.


    During periods of high tension, stress, and overthinking, our system triggers headaches or migraines as a way to force us to stop. The system essentially shuts down, preventing further overthinking. Often, the only option is to lie down in bed or on the couch, in the dark, without any stimuli. This state allows the entire system to rest.


    If the underlying causes are not addressed, stress will accumulate again, leading to another episode of headache or migraine.

  • Abdominal pain and tension

    Abdominal pain and stomach pain can be caused by tension and stress.  If there is no medical reason, the cause is often stress and tension.


    Fortunately, it is possible to learn how to manage stress and tension differently.

Staff

Reduce or eliminate pain in your brain. How?


  1. Simply by giving it a kiss and sticking a plaster or giving it an ice cream.
  2. Or by applying an NLP technique in which you change the sensation and/or the frame. Read more in my blog Auch!! Kiss and make it better.
  3. Or by going to a (hypno)therapist, who can help you reduce pain and/or teach you how to reduce your pain yourself. On a mental level you can learn to ignore pain. You then no longer 'feel' the pain.


If it is a pain echo (caused in the past by, for example, a trauma that took on a life of its own after healing), this is of course also very useful. And with chronic pain, it is also useful to learn how to manage the pain yourself, how to shift your focus or distance yourself from the pain. As an expert, I know how effective this can be. Hypnosis is a powerful tool in this regard.


By the way, cursing and laughing also helps.