Tag Archives: pain

Are you living with pain?

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When you’re living with pain, you may have been told by health professionals who can’t find a physical cause: “It’s in your head.”

Does that sound familiar?

Rachel Zoffness Smiling

Pain psychologist Rachel Zoffness, PhD

Well, it turns out, that’s the case, at least partly. Pain psychologist Rachael Zoffness says pain is at “the intersection of everything…. pain is never purely physical, it’s also emotional. And it’s not located in the body, ultimately, it’s produced by the brain.”

Knowing that is both incredibly exciting—because we have the power to change how we think and feel, and the tools exist to help us—and disheartening, because many medical professionals don’t know how to best treat pain.

Dr. Zoffness’ first patient was a teenager who’d been living with pain so long he’d given up hope. She says:

“… this was a child, and he was on Thorazine for his pain, and it would knock him out for days at a time. So, he wasn’t going to school, he wasn’t seeing friends, he wasn’t functioning… He’d seen more than 15 physicians… And I knew, especially as a pain psychologist, nobody wants to go to a psychologist for pain because pain is sold to us as this purely physical or physiological problem. If you go to a psychologist, the popular thought is, ‘Oh, they’re saying it’s all in my head, or they’re saying my pain isn’t real or I’m faking it.’ But that’s not true; there’s all these treatments that are evidence-based for pain that are non-pharmacological.”

Using one of these evidence-based treatments, the cognitive behavioral therapy protocol for pain management, Dr. Zoffness was able to help this hopeless student move out of pain into first standing on his porch and eventually into playing soccer and graduating from high school. “He still has pain episodes, but he knows exactly what to do, and he’s never going to be that kid who’s in bed for four years ever again.” Her former patient is now captain of his college swim team.

Where to learn more

Listen to this episode of the Ologies podcast to hear the whole interview: “Dolorology with Dr. Rachael Zoffness.” Or read the transcript here.

Dr. Zoffness has just published a book, which I’ve not yet read: Tell Me Where It Hurts: The New Science of Pain and How to Heal. And her website is packed with resources.

What the Heck is Feldenkrais?

As many of you know, it can be hard to explain the Feldenkrais Method. It’s profoundly experiential, and, if you have just one lesson, it might not be the lesson which sparks your curiosity. Someone who recently took a workshop told me that he felt the movements weren’t well explained: he didn’t understand their purpose.

ATM class. Photo by Rosalie O'Connor. Copyright 2005.

ATM class. Photo by Rosalie O’Connor. Copyright 2005.

Awareness through Movement is a kind of self-exploration and learning new to many of us. Some are drawn to it immediately. Some respond over time. And some people find it annoying and slow.

Occasionally frustrating for people is the fact that I don’t generally demonstrate the movements. Because it’s not about how I do the movement, but about how you discover the movements for yourself.

I recently attended a health fair at Texas Women’s University where I had a chance to describe the method repeatedly. (Special thanks to Chré for inviting me—and what a gorgeous facility!) I said, with variations: “We all tend to move habitually. Feldenkrais helps us find movements options we forgot or perhaps never discovered. It expands our choices, and reduces wear and tear on our joints. It’s an excellent complement to physical therapy. Usually people in the USA discover the method after they’ve exhausted other possibilities, to alieve chronic pain, conditions like fibromyalgia, or recover from surgery.”

That explanation seemed to convey the purpose of the method; but I’d love info from those of you who swear by the method: does the explanation match your experience? How do you describe Feldenkrais when asked?

Thanks for any feedback you can give me.