Can Chronic Pain Be Healed?
Recently, I was interviewed on a podcast by Dr. Crystal Beal, the Founder and CEO of QueerDoc and Queer CME. Dr. Beal is a physician and healthcare consultant who is on a mission to raise the bar in queer and gender affirming healthcare through patient care and gender affirming medical education.
I spoke to Dr. Beal about my experience with Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) as a patient and practitioner. Over several years, I’ve utilized many treatments to alleviate chronic daily migraine pain. Some of those treatments are evidenced-based (medication and acupuncture) and some methods are decidedly not. After a lot of trial and error, I tried Pain Reprocessing therapy, the most effective current evidence-based** treatment for chronic pain, and then I got certified as a practitioner.
Here's how it works. Pain Reprocessing Therapy works for neuroplastic pain, which happens when the brain misinterprets safe signals from the body as if they were dangerous and creates pain. Pain is a danger signal created by the brain. For example, if you injure yourself, the body sends signals to the brain to inform you of the danger of further damage to your body and that something needs attention. Sometimes the brain makes a mistake and sends out false alarms (pain) to indicate danger when there is none.
In this case, the pain can be addressed psychologically and somatically, which does not mean that the pain isn’t real. It’s not “all in your head”. The pain is totally real, and brain imaging corroborates this fact, but the treatment for neuroplastic pain is psychological through mindfulness, reducing fear of the pain, and rewiring the brain for more safety.
I do this work in the context of identity and oppression. The stress of historical and on-going identity-based persecution is correlated with chronic pain and illness, so increasing safety in response to those pain signals in the body can be challenging for folks who feel unsafe in the world but is a necessary path to healing chronic pain.
For a deeper dive on on how chronic pain intersects with the oppression experienced by Trans folks specifically and how I utilize PRT, check out the podcast interview linked above. And check out my individual coaching and PRT offerings.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy and Somatic Coaching Sessions
I work with each client to identify what is most important to you, review diagnostic criteria for neuroplastic pain, and take steps to rewire the brain for more safety
To sign up or get more information about my groups or coaching, book a free consult with me today.
**For those of you who like research, PRT is backed up by a randomized controlled study at University of Colorado Boulder in which half of the sample (100 people total) received PRT twice weekly for 4 weeks and half received treatment as usual. After 4 weeks, 98% of patients improved and 65% were pain-free or nearly pain-free at the end of the treatment.
