Entries by The Pain PT

A daily diary study on stressors, hurt feelings, aggression, and somatic symptoms

in /by

“A total of 248 college students participated in the daily diary study. Daily stressors, daily hurt feelings, and rejection sensitivity predicted somatic symptoms. Rejection sensitivity also moderated the association of stressors to somatic symptoms such that more stressors and high rejection sensitivity predicted more somatic symptoms. The findings collectively highlight the importance of supporting individuals […]

Imbalance in emotion regulation & fibromyalgia

in /by

Fibromyalgia is one of the conditions we can look as a part of a broader group of symptoms that are considered central sensitivity syndromes. Others are IBS, chronic fataigue, tension headaches, TMJ, etc. These group of symptoms have been shown to have brain and nervous system components to them and are areas I address in […]

Fear and it’s impact on nocebo symptoms

in /by

The power of the nocebo (opposite the placebo) is real in causing elevated physical symptoms in the body. This brain mechanism is a part of the focus point in the treatment of mind-body health disorders. This quote from a research article caught my eye.  ‘It is estimated that up to 97% of reported pharmaceutical side […]

The Connection of Emotions with Somatic Symptoms

in /by

Wanted to share this study that looked at the relationship between our emotions and somatic symptom disorder (SSD). A lot of what I treat are people who present with SSD- meaning there is nothing physically wrong in the body, but they are still having a lot of physical symptoms in the body. These symptoms come […]

The Power of Letting Go

in /by

One of the things I see in a lot of people I work with is a difficulty in letting go. Letting go of our bodies and its tension, tightness, stiffness, guarding, and protection. Letting go of our minds and its beliefs, stresses, reactions, resentments, and mental resistances. And finally letting go of what arises in […]

Nocebo, Fear, and Symptoms

in /by

I talked about nocebo in this weeks group class. A lot of the chronic pain and chronic symptoms I see are productions of the brain not the body. I found part of this article enlightening as many people ask about emotions and nocebo. Fear is the usually the culprit emotion behind a nocebo effect as […]

Is Sensitization a Driver of Your Chronic Symptoms?

in /by

The short answer is YES. In this research review article titled “The Neurobiology of Central Sensitization the researchers state: “Features of central sensitization have been identified in nearly all chronic pain conditions.” What is central sensitization? Simply as the authors put it: “Central sensitization refers to the amplification of pain by central nervous system (CNS) […]

Proving How Information Can Affect You Negatively

in /by

Check out this randomized control study  that really showed the power of information given by a doctor can have very real negative effects on the patient. This is called the nocebo effect. In this study, 44 low back pain (LBP) patients were randomized to either Group A- who had a factual explanation of their MRI […]

Emotional Awareness & Expression- Upcoming February Group Class

in /by

Emotional Awareness & Expression Therapy (EAET) has been shown in 4 different studies to be an effective treatment choice for different types of problematic physical symptoms. Dr. Howard Schubiner and Mark Lumley did this review paper on the evidence and write: ‘Four recent randomized, controlled trials of different EAET durations (1 to 8 sessions) and […]

Let it Be: Mindful Acceptance down-regulates pain & negative emotion

in /by

This is the title of a study put forth by Tor Wager, who was the lead researcher in the Boulder back pain study that showed how powerful pain re-processing therapy was in reducing chronic back pain. In this study from 2019, Wager and colleagues found that: ‘Emotion regulation using mindful acceptance was associated with reductions […]