Part Two – How Nerve Pathways Work Together to Increase Pain
We talked about the brain’s changing treatment of chronic pain in the last post. We saw the images of the brain and how it lights up in the frontal cortex when pain continues beyond just a few minutes. But is this the end of the Pain Drama?
No, pain is a complex animal. Just as our body has complex functions and ways to adapt, so does the mechanism behind pain. It adapts from our life experiences and the subconscious mind works to always protect us and function for the best.
“What!!,” you say, “ Function for my best? My body and brain have turned into my worst enemies! I feel pain every day. I’m paying out a lot of money to doctors who can’t seem to do anything about it. And I’m buying drugs that make me feel like a zombie but even they don’t take away all of my pain. If my subconscious mind were working for my protection and my highest good, the pain would be gone and I could heal. After all, can’t the body heal itself if it wants to?”
How is Pain Connected in the Brain?
Well, all you’ve said is true. And your pain is real, it’s not “all in your mind”, as one doctor said to me once. But medicine is starting to see the way the brain stores memories of emotional pain and physical pain and they are finding correlations.
Dr. Howard Schubiner tells us that when nerve pathways are created around a stressor, they remain in our body and can work together to increase physical pain as we age.
Now, a nerve pathway is created with every new experience. There’s a nerve pathway for 1 + 1 = 2. There is a nerve pathway for writing your name. And there is a nerve pathway for smiling at a sunny day. But there can be a series of nerve pathways for trauma we experience. There will be nerve pathways for abuse, for name calling, for dealing with death and divorce, for being moved from place to place. And after childhood, you may continue creating nerve pathways of emotional and/or physical pain. Maybe from emotional or physical abusive relationships, because of the loss of a loved one, a very stressful job or just plain unhappiness. And all these nerve pathways are piling up inside you. Then, suddenly, something happens.
The Injury
Maybe you hurt your back or you’re in a car accident or you break a bone in your foot or your knee wears out. Even if you do all the things your doctor says you need to do; like surgery or physical therapy or cortisone shots or prescription drugs; you still feel pain every day. Why can’t the pain stop and why is it so strong when I should be healed by now?
Those nerve pathways that were associated with emotional pain and physical pain, gang up on you and conspire together to create a loop of pain that just won’t stop. They take all the pain of your life and can channel it into this one area of your body and let you have it every day. But why? Why do I have to suffer pain from all of those old things that I’m over and done with? They don’t have anything to do with my back surgery….do they?
Well….they really do. Emotions aren’t just felt in the mind, they are felt in the body. The emotion might start in your mind but it is shared in your physical body almost immediately. Think about something that caused you to be afraid; maybe a close call while driving your car or slipping on the ice. Something that brought you fear. Now, notice where you feel that fear in your body. Some people feel it in their stomach, some feel it in their throat, some feel it in the back of their head. That’s your body’s fear response.
Emotional Response
Now, think of something that made you really angry. Maybe someone called you an ugly name, or cut you off on the freeway or made fun of your child. Feel that anger right now. You feel it in your body. That’s your body’s anger response.
So, your body has a physical response to emotion. You just proved that. So, when you feel pain, those old nerve pathways remember the old stressor and they tell you that you haven’t really dealt with the emotion of that problem. Even if it’s in the past and even if you think you’re over it. If you have chronic pain, most likely a large part of the physicality of the pain is emotional.
If some researchers are saying that eighty percent or more of chronic pain is emotional, if you reduced your pain by eighty percent, wouldn’t your quality of life be incredibly better? Couldn’t you work at your job better? Couldn’t you enjoy life more with only twenty percent of your pain left? Yeah, you bet you could.
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is one great way of collapsing that emotional pain. I saw a comment under Dr. Schubiner’s video where the person said that hypnosis would just trick his mind into forgetting the pain. Now, I don’t think that would be such a bad idea! But that’s not what hypnosis does. We can ease those nerve pathways and give them permission to have a better quality of life function. I relax the body with hypnosis, very deeply. Into a state where the mind can turn itself to other matters, and we can allow it to release old hurts and painful emotions. Your mind wants resolution . It wants you to be at your best. But the subconscious doesn’t communicate well with your critical thinking mind. It doesn’t always know that the pain signals it’s sending to your body are causing you to live an unhappy life.
In Conclusion:
So, what we’ve learned today is;
- Nerve pathways are built from every new experience, good or bad.
- Emotions are felt in the body as well as the mind
- Reducing or eliminating the emotions of old negative nerve pathways through hypnosis, can create a much greatly improved quality of life
Next Time:
Part Three, on my series of Pain Control Hypnosis
What actually in hypnosis?
What can I expect when I come to you for pain hypnosis?
Here is Try It Out Tuesday and today is session 2 with Lisa who has extreme pain from CRPS.
About the Author Angie J. Hernandez, C.Ht.
A graduate of the Hypnosis Motivation Institute, Angie J. Hernandez, C.Ht., has her private practice in Milford, Indiana. She is certified in hypnotherapy by the Hypnotherapist's Union Local 472. Angie is the author of "Weight Loss Epiphany: The Workbook", "Charlie's Cuddly Animals for Little Geniuses" and "Weight Loss Hypnosis: Lose Weight with Hypnosis Scripts & Recordings". You can find out more about Angie and how to schedule private sessions by calling (574) 658-4686.
