The Purpose of Pain
Where does pain come from? When pain occurs, we normally connect it to an injury whether it be something that just happened or a past injury. Another thing that could cause pain is a perceived injury. I instantly think of small children. A child will be playing, and then they fall. The child seems to be fine until an adult shows them some attention and that’s when the pain becomes known. Once the adult kisses the injury and puts a bandage on it the child is all better. Stress can also be a cause for pain. I typically have an increase in headaches the more stressed I am. Sometimes pain just shows up and we don’t know why. I was scrolling through social media the other day and one of my friends posted “you know you are getting old when you wake up and you have random back pain.” No matter how the pain shows up, it is real pain.
Pain is a danger signal our brain uses to inform us there is something wrong. The brain’s goal is to protect us from more damage. When we experience pain, we attend to the pain to help decrease it. When needed we go to the doctor, take medication, see a specialist, RICE (rest, ice, compress, and elevate – thank you college health class), have surgery, or at times try to ignore it. We do whatever it takes to fix the problem, so our brain no longer needs to inform us about the pain. What do we do when the pain does not go away? When treatments or medications are not working? When doctors run out of answers? When the pain seems to be permanent?
After several years of working with clients in the mental health field, I recognized a common trait with my clients no matter the mental diagnosis or age. The commonality was physical pain and/or digestive problems. I became fascinated with the commonality. I also experienced the same problems. I began doing research and learned about Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) founded by Alan Gordon. I actively pursued PRT. I gained resources and began to see positive results in my own life. I then knew how I could become a better resource for my clients dealing with daily pain. I once again actively pursued PRT and became a certified clinician. PRT focuses on neuroplastic pain. Neuroplastic pain occurs when the brain misinterprets a safe signal ultimately making a mistake. PRT gives us tools and resources to help the brain decrease neuroplastic pain signals. There is hope in being able to manage pain, decrease pain, and maybe even eliminating it. Life is challenging, and daily pain makes it even more challenging. Halos Counseling is here to walk with you along this journey of daily pain.
Learn more about chronic pain.