Under threat, your blood flow to your frontal cortex (thinking, consciousness) shifts to the lower functioning levels of the brain, your demand for fuel (glucose) increases and some of it is taken from the neurons, and your immune system stimulates inflammation through cytokines (small signaling proteins), which when sustained causes destruction of brain tissue.

Mental or physical threats are processed in a similar manner. Examples of mental threats are unpleasant thoughts and emotions, worry, catastrophizing, emotional abuse or neglect, fear of authority, lack of opportunity, and social isolation. Repressed emotions are also a major problem. Physical threats include lack of food, poverty, bullies, viruses, trauma, predators, and being trapped by pain.

Although both are problematic, mental threats are a much bigger issue in that humans cannot escape their consciousness. The resultant sustained elevated levels of stress hormones and inflammation causes both mental and physical disease. One example, is that it is well-documented that the brain physically shrinks in the presence of chronic pain. It will return to its normal size when the pain resolves. (1)

Fortunately, you have complete control about which direction you would like your brain to develop. It depends on what you decide to program it with.

Pavlov’s Dogs

One experiment that demonstrates the power of reprogramming is the famous one by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian researcher. Pavlov showed how the brain can be trained, through repetition, to have certain reactions in certain circumstances. Recent neuroscience now backs up his findings.

Pavlov set up a situation where every interaction a dog had with food would involve the sound of a bell. Eventually just the bell sound would cause the dog to salivate, even without seeing or smelling food.

One of Pavlov’s lesser-known experiments is when he coupled the dog’s interaction with food with an electric shock to one leg. With repetition, the dog would eventually seek the electric shock to obtain food and wouldn’t react to the shock with a pain response. However, this phenomenon was “paw dependent” in that if the same shock was applied to its other leg, the dog would scream with pain.

Ears, Eyes, and Touch

There have been numerous studies examining the interaction between the senses when one is absent. For example, it is well-known that people who are blind have more sensitivity in their fingertips, which allows them to more quickly learn to read Braille compared to someone with sight. Part of this is from the brain’s capacity to adapt through neuroplasticity, but it can happen much more quickly through changes in the areas of brain activity.

One experiment involved applying very tight blindfolds on volunteers for five days and measuring brain activity with fMRI’s (functional MRI’s). (2) These scans measure blood flow and metabolic activity in the different areas of the brain. They demonstrated that the brain regions associated with hearing and touch quickly became active and compensated for the lack of sight. There was a rapid shift of activity in addition to neuroplastic changes. When the blindfolds were removed, it took a few hours for the brain to re-adapt to processing visual input. Additionally, the blindfolded volunteers underwent intensive training in reading Braille. They demonstrated the occipital lobe of the brain (vision processing center) became active during touch. The brain adapts quickly and there are many underlying “silent” functions that become activated when needed.

Take control of your programming

I have become slowly convinced and am astonished that you can program your brain around almost anything. The key is stimulating neuroplasticity. You must move towards what you want in your life instead of trying to solve the problem. Otherwise, you’ll just reinforce the pain.

Some examples of the power of neuroplasticity include:

• Jen had 15 years of chronic neck, low back and leg pain, severe anxiety, headaches and depression. She shifted out of pain within a week at one of our workshops and six years later, continues to thrive.
• Richard was in severe pain for over 20 years, was dealing with substance abuse including opioids and alcohol, and had undergone over 25 surgeries. He has been free from pain for over four years and has not felt this good since he was in his 20’s.
• Vicki had been suffering from generalized pain and anxiety for over 50 years. It took about a year of trying different approaches, but she has been doing well for over five years. She coined a unique word, “neuroshment.”
• We have now seen several cases of severe phantom limb pain resolve.

These are just a few examples of hundreds of patients who have broken free from the grip of chronic pain. The key is simply engaging in the series of tools that allow your brain to change. You can’t fix yourself, but you can practice behaviors that re-direct and calm your nervous system.

You can’t turn back

I realized a few weeks ago that once you have gained an awareness of the nature of pain, practice the tools that change your brain, and allow yourself to heal, there is no going back. Some people begin the healing journey but quit quickly. But there is a tipping point, where you have changed the nature of the way you process the environment and your brain will keep changing in that direction. Since is so self-directed, people continue to move forward, and many, if not most thrive at a level that they never knew existed. That includes me.

Jane

This realization of not being able to turn back hit me while I was talking to a young friend who I had been informally helping for a couple of years. She had known about the DOC process for several years but had engaged with the journey only after a long conversation where she was ready to try anything. She dove into my book, Back in Control: A Surgeon’s Roadmap Out of Chronic Pain and the stages of the website, www.backincontrol.com,  which outlines the action plan. She also sought some additional support. Within six months, her 15-year misery of suffering from severe anxiety, low energy, depression, and back pain ended. She was ecstatic. I warned her that the downside of feeling good is that when you inevitably have periods of re-experiencing pain, it is a higher fall and extremely frustrating. She heard me but wasn’t so convinced. Last summer, not only did she have a recurrence, she was more miserable than she had ever been. I will admit, I was a little worried. She was in the abyss of pain for almost six months. But the key is using the same tools you learned to heal in the first place. She didn’t and then she did.

When I talked to her a few weeks ago, she was on fire. Her energy was back, she had moved to a new city, was beginning to re-engage in her art, and her anxiety was back down to a minimal level.

I am never happy when I personally dive back into the pit of pain, but I do have the tools. Once you understand what it is like to feel good and have the tools to get there, you will find your way back. I did explain to her that the good news is that each time you are challenged like this (and there is more to come), you will become more skilled at shifting back onto the circuits in your brain that allow you to thrive.

The DOC Journey

We have now created The DOC Journey, which more clearly presents the core strategies that are most quickly effective and creates the experience of “feeling safe.” It is more interactive with the core of it being an app that will be available later this fall.

Use the power of your brain’s adaptability to create the life that you want.

References:

1. Seminowicz DA, et al. “Effective treatment of chronic low back pain in humans reverses abnormal brain anatomy and function.” The Journal of Neurosci­ence (2011); 31: 7540-7550.
2. Merabet, LB, et al. Rapid and reversible recruitment of early visual cortex for touch. PLoS ONE (2008);3(8): e3046. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003046.

The post Reprogram your Brain Around Pain first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Reprogram your Brain Around Pain appeared first on Back in Control.

Thought suppression

Disturbing thoughts are universal. When you have a bizarre, even unspeakable thought, of course you would suppress it. Why wouldn’t you?  It has nothing to do with anything about you or your value system. Then, as it arises again and again, it is instantly suppressed.  Eventually the suppression of the thought is automatic. Seems pretty normal, right? Except what happened is that your nervous system inadvertently gave this random thought a tremendous amount of power. Every time that thought is suppressed, that neurological circuit has been reinforced. Over many years, this circuit becomes much stronger and becomes connected with more experiences. (2) Eventually, you may consciously or unconsciously end up spending a lot of mental energy dealing with this anxiety-producing, disruptive thought(s). As you have less success in controlling the ever-increasing and powerful thoughts, you will probably become frustrated, which drives the circuits even harder.

Another variation of this phenomenon is the development of obsessive thought patterns around “forbidden activities or topics.” (3) Just inadvertent  curiosity will stimulate barrages of thoughts. What is perverse is that it is the more well-intentioned person who is more subject to this sequence. This programming process is similar to an accomplished musician or artist learning their skill. It requires years of repetition to reach the highest level. Disruptive thoughts hit the nervous system like a machine gun without an endpoint.

Your reality – your thoughts

You might ask what is the big deal? These are just thoughts. Neuroscience research has demonstrated that thoughts are your version of reality, similar to learning a cat is a cat. Your brain has to unscramble sensory input from all receptors every second to define anything. Your eyes have no capacity to interpret anything. For example, if a person suffers a stroke of the occipital lobe at the back of the brain, they can’t see even though every other component of the visual system is functioning. The term is “cortical blindness.” This is true for all sensations. To develop consciousness, your nervous system has to interpret words, body language, tone of voice, visual cues, etc. for every thought to decide where it fits and what it means. Thoughts and concepts are embedded in the same way as physical reality. We are programmed by our past and the lens through which we interpret the present. As disruptive thoughts strengthen with repetition, they even become associated with physical reactions making them even more “real.” Every human has to deal with this problem of consciousness at some level. It is often overwhelming efforts to escape result in many untoward behaviors and acting out.

Demons

These disruptive thoughts become your “demons.” They are not your demons. They are irrational, non-responsive neurological patterns that I call “robots”. You cannot deal with a robot. You cannot talk to it or reason with it. There is absolutely nothing that can be done from a rational standpoint to change an unresponsive neurological pathway. In fact, when you discuss your demons and try to figure out why they are there, you are firing up and adding complexity to the circuits. They become even stronger and you can’t unlearn them. How do you “unlearn” to ride a bike? You can’t.

It’s almost surreal that we spend so much time and energy trying to contain and deal with our demons. Not only are they not who we are, they are the opposite of who we are.  Otherwise, we would not have suppressed the thoughts in the first place. It is like changing the oil in your car when your radiator is leaking. Eventually, you are just worn down. The other consequence of this relentless repetition of unpleasant thoughts is that your body is responding with stress chemicals, which affects every cell in your body. People become ill.

A common example is that of a body image disorder. It is my contention that every person has some level of body image issues and at some tipping point they may become disruptive. Consider that there is always some aspect of your body that you don’t like. Usually it is a minimal issue that is “not a big deal”. Why even think about it? Except you live in your body and there is no escape from that tiny thought. By tossing the thought aside, you just gave it attention and it will grow and continue to do so every time the thought arises. It is also why some of the most beautiful people on the planet may suffer more than the average person because their attention is on their appearance.

Solutions

The first step in dealing with all of this is understanding the nature of the problem. These “demons” are as real to you as the chair you are sitting on. They create tremendous anxiety, which is frequently intolerable. Anxiety is not primarily psychological. It is measure of your stress chemicals and intended to create a deep feeling of dread to compel you to take action to solve a given threat. When you can’t escape the “threat”, life can be pretty miserable. It is critical to remember that rational approaches don’t work and actually may be counter-productive.

Second, you have to view these repetitive thoughts from a mechanical viewpoint and depersonalize them.  Everyone has some level of them. They are just there and are NOT who you are. Don’t give them any further personal energy. Your brain will develop wherever you place your attention.

Third, there are many strategies to rewire your brain and create new more enjoyable circuits. The term is “neuroplasticity” and the basic sequence is awareness, separation and redirecting. The tools are simple and effective with repetition. Mental pain appears to be a greater problem for most people than physical pain, although neither one is great. Your “demons” are one of the more intense aspects of it. The DOC process presents many proven strategies to rewire your brain, and each person figures out his or her unique approach.

Consider the solution being similar to cleaning out the lint in a dryer. It needs to be done regularly. Otherwise, the dryer will lose efficiency and eventually break down. I consider the use of these tools “neurological maintenance.” It is the way the nervous system functions. Think in terms of neuroplasticity. THERE ARE NO RATIONAL SHORTCUTS.

1. Wegner
2. Mansour
3. Obsessive

JYR, BF

The post Your Demons are Robots first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Your Demons are Robots appeared first on Back in Control.

Repetitive thoughts

When you suffer, you have the same set of thoughts over and over; a process that clearly reinforces a given neurological circuit. Suffering takes many forms. Ways it is manifested include complaining, arguing, manipulation, gossiping, etc. There are often strong repetitive thoughts regarding the mess that your life has become. The resulting anger is the jet fuel that gets these circuits really spinning. It is almost impossible to “let it go,” because the anger feels so justified. The situation is already miserable even before we consider the unrelenting pain.

The process is similar to a person learning any skill with repetition. Athletics, music, art, computers, dance, racing, language, etc. Any skill you have was acquired with repeated specific focused movements. The problem with pain, mental or physical is that the impulses hit your nervous system so fast and are persistent. Whether you suppress or experience your suffering doesn’t matter. The outcome is the same and it is a programming problem.

Additionally, recent neuroscience on the nature of human consciousness has shown that thoughts and concepts are embedded into our brains in the same way concrete objects are discerned, such as shape, texture, color, categories, etc. In my first book, I pointed out that thoughts are real because the human body reacts to them with a neurochemical response. I was wrong. Thoughts are your version of reality and are as real to you as the chair you are sitting in. We are all deeply and completely programmed by our past experiences.

Not letting go

I recently had a patient who was convinced that somehow the orthopedic surgeon had done a poor job on his rotator cuff surgery five years earlier. Although he was in my office to look at his neck, he continued to rant about how he had been irreversibly damaged by this surgeon. I don’t know how well the surgery went compared to how well he had done his rehab after the shoulder surgery. He was so focused on the story and the sensations around his shoulder that I could not even touch his skin around the shoulder girdle. Regardless of the reason for his condition, his daily quality of life was additionally compromised by these repetitive, ruminating thoughts.

Often patients with chronic pain see a psychologist for help in dealing with negative thoughts/suffering. This is a generally a good idea — I am a strong proponent of psychological support for almost any situation. However, it must be used in the correct context. In my experience, if your sessions are used only to talk about your problems, you are merely firing up negative neurological circuits and making them more complex.  It can be a form of “sophisticated suffering.”  For psychological interventions to work, you also need a “reprogramming” component. Not sharing your pain

Repetition is a huge factor in deeply embedding pain circuits. It also the reason we ask people not to discuss their pain or medical care with ANYONE, except their immediate health care providers. Since mental pain is a bigger problem than physical pain, this recommendation also extends to no complaining, gossiping, criticism, and giving unasked-for advice. In other words, just listen and be nice. Your brain will follow in kind.

The post Suffering first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Suffering appeared first on Back in Control.