You are Not a Machine

“Pain-Generator” thinking takes the human body to be like the body of a car–when there is something wrong with the body, all you need is a good mechanic. The mechanic replaces mechanical parts, and the problem is solved. However, your body is not a machine. There is little resemblance of your body to a mechanical device:

Automobiles are DEAD and do not react to a pain signal. They do not have:

• Pain fibers
• A nervous system that interprets pain signals
• Hormones
• Emotions
• Memories

There is NOTHING in the mechanical world that remotely resembles pain. In fact, serious attempts have been made to reproduce pain in the mechanical world has failed miserably. Yet it is understandable for patients to become focused on finding the physical source of their pain. Your pain problem is solvable once you understand the various aspects of pain and then address ALL of them simultaneously.

• Pain is complicated–it is entangled in an intricate web of mental and physical states. It is a necessary part of being alive and human.

The post You are Not a Machine first appeared on Back in Control.

The post You are Not a Machine appeared first on Back in Control.

There are over 2200 research papers that document that expressive writing in some form is effective for improving both your mental and physical health. I have been adamant for a long time that you should write down just negative thoughts – not positive ones. That has also been the general feeling of many papers. Interestingly enough, I ran across several papers that documented that writing down positive thoughts is equally effective. It appears that expressing thoughts and emotions works. The debate is how and why it is effective. One theory is that it switches your thinking into a slower, more rational mode, than automatic fast thinking. For me, writing was the first and only effective strategy that pulled me out of a 15-year tailspin. I had been in psychotherapy for 13 years and continued to spiral downward. I am an advocate of psychological interventions but they have to be combined with some other tool that helps to calm and re-route the nervous system.

My first step with every patient is to have them write down his or her thoughts and instantly destroy them. Thoughts are only connections between neurons within your brain.  There is no substance to them – none. However, as your body secretes chemicals in response to thoughts, they seem like real and part of your identity. Your goal is to bring these thoughts to life as vividly as possible and then separate from them. Unhooking from the train Meaningful healing will not occur until you start writing. It has been the one common strategy of essentially every patient I have seen go to pain free. I ask that patients begin this process before they do much reading, as it is the true beginning of the program. Write Your Way Out of Pain

Much of the DOC program is based on neuroplasticity, which is the term for your brain’s capacity to physically change. It can grow new nerve cells, lay down myelin and form new circuits and connections at any stage of your life. In fact, it has been demonstrated that your brain physically shrinks in the presence of chronic pain and re-expands when the pain resolves. The basic steps of the reprogramming process is: 1) awareness 2) separation 3) reprogramming. I feel that the expressive writing accomplishes the awareness and detachment steps simultaneously. There is now a space between you and your thoughts that is connected with the physical sensations of vision and feel. Somehow the brain processes this separation. 

The reprogramming process begins the day you begin to write. Write anything – positive or negative. It is important to immediately destroy them so that you can write with complete freedom. I encourage people to write for 10 or 15 minutes a couple of times per day. I do not encourage writing throughout the day. What I do suggest is to combine the writing with active meditation. You choose a physical sensation to place your mind on for 15-20 seconds as many times a day as you can. You have now shifted your nervous system off of unpleasant pathways to neutral or pleasant ones. I would like to do it more but I probably am successful 20 – 30 times per day. Instead of doing battle with unsolvable circuits you simply shifting your attention to other sensations.

Creating New Pathways

Thoughts are connected with:

• Other thoughts
• Emotions
• Physical sensations
• Mental pictures

Each these associations creates new neurological pathways. With writing, thoughts are connected to vision and feel, which creates new circuits. It clarifies your thinking and it is also the staring point. The writing exercise is not the solution for your pain. You will discover your own solution as the process unfolds.

The post Write and Don’t Stop! first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Write and Don’t Stop! appeared first on Back in Control.