Elements and Tools We Use

Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT):

PRT aims to reprogram the brain's response to pain signals and deactivate neural associations of chronic pain by creating alternative neural pathways. It contains strategies that train the brain to interpret bodily sensations differently. These are individually adjusted and the chronic pain cycle is interrupted. It includes Somatic Tracking, a method that teaches the brain to stop pairing pain sensations with fear, thereby cutting off the fear-pain-fear cycle.

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Pain Science Education and Neuroscience: 

Understanding how chronic pain evolves is the basis for effective pain improvement. As a consequence, individuals can change how they perceive and react to pain. Clarifying the complexities of pain and highlighting the significant role the brain plays in interpreting pain signals gives sufferers valuable insights, aiding them in treating their chronic pain conditions.​

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Trigger Adjustment Utilizing Neuroplasticity (aka Retraining the Brain):

We help individuals retrain their brains to reduce or eliminate chronic pain and focus on changing how the brain processes pain signals, rather than just treating the physical source.

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Rapid Transformational Therapy® (RTT):

Many individuals with chronic pain have backgrounds marked by trauma or psychological struggles such as anger, stress, addictions, eating disorders, or relationship issues that can initiate or worsen their pain. Unlike traditional pain management methods that overlook these underlying factors, RTT® offers a comprehensive approach, integrating the most effective elements of Psychodynamic Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Hypnotherapy, and Neuroscience to provide a solution-focused therapy that offers unparalleled fast and effective results.

During an RTT® session, expect a comprehensive approach that begins with thoroughly exploring your symptoms and goals. Each session typically lasts 1.5 to 2 hours, during which the therapy practitioner guides you into a hyper-relaxed, trance-like state. This state allows you to access your subconscious mind, uncovering and understanding the root causes of your emotional or psychological challenges. Employing transformative techniques, the therapy practitioner helps you to reframe negative beliefs and behaviors, instilling new, positive messages and self-beliefs. By the end of the session, you feel empowered and have a clearer understanding of the underlying factors contributing to your issues. You will also receive a personalized transformational recording to listen to daily, solidifying the changes in the subconscious mind and accelerating your progress toward lasting change.

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Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT):

CBT  is a method that focuses on understanding and modifying the thoughts and emotions that influence behaviors. Many individuals experiencing chronic pain find themselves constantly worrying about their condition, often from a place of fear: "Will this pain ever go away?" "Is it better or worse than this morning?" "What will my future look like, what if the pain gets even worse?"

Such patterns of thought can unintentionally maintain or even worsen symptoms by reinforcing the fear and fixation on the pain. By employing CBT, we aim to help those suffering from pain to understand better how their thoughts about pain influence its persistence. By exploring and reshaping this relationship, we can effectively disrupt the cycle of pain, leading to improved management and potentially reducing or eliminating the pain experienced.

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Mind-Body Connection: 

We use the connection between the mind, brain, and body to alleviate or eliminate pain. Chronic pain is perpetuated by neural pathways in the brain that have become conditioned to produce pain in response to factors such as stress, negative emotions, past trauma, or central sensitization after injury. The focus is on acknowledging and processing hidden emotions, challenging fear-based thoughts about pain, and shifting towards more positive and healing thoughts and behaviors. This method not only helps alleviate pain but also empowers individuals to reclaim control over their emotional and physical health.

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Psychodynamic Therapy (PDT):

PDT delves into an individual's unconscious processes and how these influence current behaviors and emotions. It is based on the principle that unresolved conflicts and emotional turmoil from the past can manifest in physical symptoms, including chronic pain.

In the context of chronic pain, psychodynamic therapy can help in several key ways: 

1. Exploring the connection between pain and psychology: recognizing how psychological stress physically manifests can lead to better symptom management.

2. Emotional release: expressing unconscious emotions can reduce psychological stress and thereby relieve physical pain.

3. Influencing behavioral patterns: changing maladaptive behaviors and adopting healthier coping mechanisms can reduce pain intensity and frequency.

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Identification of Pain Triggers and Correction Through Hyperrelaxation (Also Called Hypnosis):

This is not hypnosis, as it is often misrepresented in the media. Rather, it is a controlled induction of a hyper-relaxed state that allows the client to recall unconscious pain triggers and causes of misinterpretation of pain stimuli by the brain, as well as self-reinforcing pain perception loops. During hypnosis, your consciousness is not diminished, you maintain full awareness of your surroundings, every sound, and each spoken word. Contrary to popular belief, hypnosis doesn't involve controlling or manipulating someone's will or actions. Instead, it's a state of heightened awareness and focus.

By harnessing the mind's ability to influence physical sensations, hypnotherapy can alter pain perception, promote relaxation, and alter pain responses. The effectiveness of hypnotherapy in pain management has been proven successful in various studies for conditions such as fibromyalgia, arthritis, and post-operative pain.

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Guided Meditation:

A meditative exploration to promote relaxation and mental well-being, calming the hyperexcitation, pain-focused brain, and setting the stage for healing.

 

Mindfulness Training and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction:

Relieves chronic pain by focusing on the present moment and accepting pain without judgment. This awareness can change one's relationship with pain, reducing its perceived intensity and the emotional distress associated with it, leading to improved coping strategies and a decrease in pain-related stress and anxiety.

 

Breathwork:

Promotes relaxation, reduces tension, and helps to calm the nervous system, particularly the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the body's 'fight or flight' response. By engaging in deep, controlled breathing, individuals can shift their body from a state of stress to a state of calm, reducing the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. This shift leads to decreased stress levels, a lower heart rate, and eased muscle stiffness, all contributing to a reduction in the perception of pain and an overall sense of well-being. 

 

Journaling/Expressive Writing:

Provides a therapeutic outlet for expressing emotions and thoughts. This practice can help in identifying and managing the psychological aspects of pain, such as stress and anxiety.

 

Graded Exposure/Exercise:

A behavioral therapy technique that involves gradually increasing physical activities or situations that have been avoided due to fear of pain or re-injury. It helps you build confidence in your physical abilities, reduce pain-related fear, and improve overall function. It builds stamina, trains muscles that have been neglected, and is an important overall component of chronic pain therapy. 

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Graded Motor Imagery (GMI):

Involves a series of structured, progressive exercises aimed at retraining how the body maps to the brain cortex.  The GMI process is typically divided into three key stages:

• Laterality Recognition: This stage involves identifying left and right body parts or objects in images. The goal is to improve the brain's ability to distinguish between the affected and unaffected sides, which can be challenging in chronic pain conditions due to changes in the brain's body map.

• Motor Imagery: In this stage, individuals are asked to mentally simulate movements without actually performing them. This helps in activating the same brain areas involved in the actual movement, promoting neural plasticity and reducing pain by improving the way the brain processes motor commands and sensory feedback.

• Mirror Therapy: The final stage involves using a mirror to reflect the unaffected limb in place of the affected one. When moving the unaffected limb while watching its reflection, the brain receives visual feedback that suggests the affected limb is moving without pain, which can help in reducing pain and improving movement in the affected limb.

 

Guided Imagery:

Guiding clients to engage in focused, controlled visualization exercises, where they envision moving the specific body part affected by chronic pain in a comfortable, pain-free manner. This mental simulation of movement helps retrain the brain's perception of movement and pain. Furthermore, guided imagery promotes deep relaxation, reduces stress levels, and enhances overall well-being, making it a comprehensive, non-invasive strategy for managing chronic pain.

 

Desensitization:

Aimes at reducing the heightened sensitivity often experienced in areas of chronic pain. Over time, chronic pain can lead to central sensitization, where the nervous system becomes overly responsive to pain signals or other sensory signals not normally associated with pain, amplifying the perception of pain even in response to non-painful stimuli. Desensitization works by gradually and repeatedly exposing the affected body parts to various stimuli, starting with those least likely to cause pain and gradually increasing in intensity. This controlled exposure helps retrain the brain and nervous system to respond more normally to sensory information.

The process involves several methods, such as:

• Tactile Stimulation: Gently touching or massaging the affected area with different textures to accustom the skin and underlying tissues to sensation again.

• Movement Therapy: Engaging in controlled, gentle movements or exercises to increase tolerance to activity and movement without exacerbating pain.

• Contrast Therapy: Applying alternating heat and cold to the affected area to reduce sensitivity.

 

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT):

This is an alternative treatment for physical pain and emotional distress. It’s also referred to as tapping or psychological acupressure, was adopted from traditional Chinese medicine, and uses a similar meridian-focused system as acupuncture. Its usefulness for chronic pain is mediated through a general calming of the body and mind, providing a guideline for self-suggestion, and allowing the client to reframe pain sensations as acceptable and controllable. It is an additional tool for retraining the brain.  

 

Exercise: 

Physical rehabilitation is profoundly intertwined with the brain's capacity to rewire and adapt. By engaging in specific physical exercises, clients teach their brains to reinterpret pain signals, reframing their mental state of constant alertness to safety and normalcy. Movement improves physical strength and flexibility, builds confidence, and reduces fear associated with movement, further contributing to the brain's relearning process.

 

Physical Therapy: 

If you're working with a physical therapist or could benefit from physical therapy, we are happy to coordinate with your therapist to ensure our efforts complement each other for your benefit.