If you experience chronic pain, you know how debilitating it can be. It’s especially frustrating when doctors, healthcare providers, and other traditional practitioners dismiss your pain or give you the same cookie-cutter “solutions” that never get to the root of the problem.
Thankfully, Pain Reprocessing Therapy can fill that gap. This approach can help you change your relationship with pain and regain a sense of comfort and safety in your body.
In this post, I’ll explain:
What Pain Reprocessing Therapy is,
What techniques are used in a Pain Reprocessing Therapy session,
Who Pain Reprocessing Therapy can help, and
Potential benefits of Pain Reprocessing Therapy.
Let’s dive in.
How does Pain Reprocessing Therapy work?
In order to fully understand the mechanisms behind Pain Reprocessing Therapy, it’s important to establish what pain itself is.
Understanding neuroplastic pain
Pain is our body’s way of communicating danger. If we break our arm, for example, our brain sends a signal (i.e. pain) to tell us that our arm needs attention. Without this signal, we might risk further injuring ourselves.
While this is a helpful, adaptive system, it can sometimes cause more harm than good, such as in the case of chronic pain–particularly neuroplastic pain.
Chronic pain is real, but when there is no physical or structural explanation associated with the pain, it’s called neuroplastic pain. We experience this form of pain when our brain misinterprets signals from our body, causing us to feel like we’re in danger even though we’re actually safe.
When this happens, we can get caught in the fear-pain cycle. We receive this false alarm signal from our brain, which triggers a fear response in our body. As a response to the fear, the brain can become trained to constantly be on high alert, scanning the body for symptoms it perceives as dangerous. This, in turn, can cause some folks’ bodies to become tense and rigid, which contributes to more pain.
While neuroplastic pain is generated in our brain, the physical sensations are real. Thankfully, by intentionally shifting our response to these signals–through Pain Reprocessing Therapy–we can interrupt the fear-pain cycle and find relief.
How Pain Reprocessing Therapy treats neuroplastic pain
With PRT, you can learn how to recognize these “false alarm” signals for what they are. When physical causes of pain are ruled out, you can take refuge in the knowledge that you’re not in physical danger.
Pain Reprocessing practitioners help you embrace physical sensations instead of fighting against them or responding with fear. By softening around sensations and finding new ways to cultivate a sense of safety, you can reduce your experience of pain–and sometimes eliminate it altogether.
What happens in a Pain Reprocessing session?
Pain Reprocessing Therapy involves different techniques to help you de-condition your automatic response to pain signals. Here are some examples of the methods your practitioner may use.
Education. Learning more about how pain works is a crucial component of Pain Reprocessing Therapy. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll feel more empowered to confront the true source of your suffering.
Somatic tracking. Using mindfulness techniques, your practitioner will help you grow your awareness of your emotions and bodily sensations. This method also involves helping you reorient to a sense of safety within your body.
Grounding skills. Pain often induces a fear response that can lead us to avoid, numb, or use other strategies that ultimately intensify uncomfortable feelings. By learning to be present with these sensations, you won’t be so consumed by them.
Positive psychology. Pain Reprocessing Therapy also involves tuning into positive feelings and sensations. Our experiences may have conditioned us to be hyper-attuned to negative or uncomfortable feelings, but we want to make room for pleasant ones as well.
These techniques (and more) can help you radically change your experience of pain.
Who is Pain Reprocessing Therapy for?
Anyone who experiences neuroplastic pain may be able to benefit from Pain Reprocessing Therapy. You can learn more about neuroplastic pain from my blog post.
Here are some examples of neuroplastic pain.
Chronic back pain
Chronic neck pain
Fibromyalgia
Headaches, including migraine
Other forms of chronic pain
If you experience any of the above and haven’t benefited from traditional pain treatments, I encourage you to consider Pain Reprocessing Therapy.
How can Pain Reprocessing Therapy help?
While more research is needed to determine all of the ways in which Pain Reprocessing Therapy can help, early studies show how effective it can be. Here are a few potential benefits of this cutting-edge approach.
Reduced pain. The main goal of Pain Reprocessing Therapy is to help people experience less pain. As a practitioner myself, I’ve seen the healing power of this technique firsthand with my clients.
Increased mindfulness. Pain Reprocessing Therapy teaches you to observe physical sensations and emotions rather than react instinctively. These mindfulness techniques can help you long after your time in treatment has ended.
Increased sense of safety. One of the main ways that Pain Reprocessing Therapy helps is by teaching people how to reconnect to a sense of safety. Giving yourself the reassurance that you are, in fact, safe can be incredibly healing.
Positive mindset. When we’re wrapped up in chronic pain, we are often in fight, flight, or freeze mode. You likely know firsthand how uncomfortable and literally painful this can be. Pain Reprocessing Therapy can teach you how to seek out feelings of pleasure and ease.
Greater resilience. Being able to rely on yourself to ease your pain is a great feeling. In treatment, you’ll learn how to welcome emotions and sensations instead of running or reacting, which builds your resilience over time.
Remember that each person’s experience is different, and you’ll likely find your own benefits from working with a Pain Reprocessing practitioner.
Feel at home in your body with Pain Reprocessing Therapy.
If you’re feeling stuck, discouraged, or even hopeless in your journey with chronic pain, you’re not alone, and I’m here to help. Many of my clients have felt this way, and thanks to Pain Reprocessing Therapy (and other techniques), they’ve been able to find lasting relief. It’s possible for you, too.
I provide chronic pain support to people like you: those who are looking for healing but haven’t found answers in the traditional medical system. Together, we can help you feel safe, comfortable, and at ease.
