Pain

     If  we [ ] learn from trauma there is a good chance that in the process we will better understand what it is to be human and how to gain access to our best selves.
Joseph Hart

Has someone told you that your pain is all in your head?

• They are actually correct... well sort of
•  Pain is interpreted by the brain
•  Mentally generated pain is very real, especially to the person experiencing it
• The brain doesn't correctly differentiate between what is real or not so the pain is interpreted by the brain as reality

What is happening in the brain?

     "… in a healthy brain all the regions exist in a state of equilibrium. When one region is active, the others quiet down. But in people with chronic pain, a front region of the cortex mostly associated with emotion "never shuts up”. (Dr Chivalo, a researcher at Northwestern University, 2008)

Pain is difficult to access; the individual with the pain is  the best reporter of how that pain feels and how best it is controlled. Learning relaxation, and how the body and brain respond to pain may help lessen the intensity of the pain signals and the mental distress that accompanies pain.
The life of the  person who experiences chronic pain as well as the lives of all those in close relationships with the pain patient change. Pain can alter how you think, how you live, and the ways in which you interact.

Mary Beasley, MA, BCB, CART, LPC                                                                                                                 
311 RR 620 S
Lake Travis Business Park, Suite #102                                                       
Austin, Texas 78734
Phone: 512-699-9357