Hypnotherapy to Manage Pain: Understanding Pain As A Message

Hypnotherapy to Manage Pain: Understanding Pain As A Messge

Hypnosis is a state of consciousness involving focused attention.

What is pain?
First, what pain is not.
Pain is not meant to be a burden.
Pain is a multi-level signal given to you so that you can stay alive in a safe way.

Pain is a signal from your body, mind and soul.

A person can learn to take back control of their pain responses.This involves coming to understand and scale the problem they are having and determining what their average pain level is. If anxiety and/or depression are also present with the experience of pain, some sessions address pain elimination while others address the connection between the pain they experience and the anxiety and or depression. 

Gaining a More Precise Understanding of The Pain You are Experiencing

Healing can begin with a focus on the real pain being felt rather than the pain gate, muscle memory or pain disorder.

Can you describe the problem beyond “I am experiencing pain”?

We want to specifically pin point the type of pain experienced.

Be more specific. Consider differentiating your experience. 
• Dull Ache, Tenderness – Muscle Fatigue (tiredness, inflammation)
• Burning – Damage to the tissues etc
• Cramping, Stitch like, Spasms – Dehydration (Spasms can also be caused by nerve receptors and medication)
• Sharp Pain, Twinge, Stabbing, Sting – Nerve Receptors
• Pins and Needles –

Where do you experience the pain physically?

What words would you use to describe it?

Focus on the specific type of pain rather than the amplification of it.

Gaining a More Precise Understanding of The way our Language of Pain Influences Our Experience

To understand pain we must see the connection between the experience of pain and the way the pain is described. The feeling of pain can be amplified when the words we use to describe the pain become a concrete part of the experience. This becomes even more problematic when we take on the
words we use to describe the pain as an identity.

Words such as:
• Chronic
• Nagging
• Constant
• Acute

To get to the root of the way identification with pain impacts the way we live, ask yourself:

Where are you in terms of activities and time of day when your experience is acute?

When is it most manageable?

Do any particular thoughts, feelings, or behaviors increase or decrease your experience of pain?

Do you have any early associations or associative memories regarding pain from your early life?

What are your earliest memories and associations with pain?

Do you have any associations regarding pain in your present life?

What are your earliest memories and associations related to your present experience of pain as it arises in your current physical problem?

When did the patterns of experiencing pain begin and how have they changed over time?

During which activities and times of day do you experience the most and least amount of pain?

Armed with A Clearer Understanding of the Pain Itself Turn to Scaling the Pain

Scale the pain from between 1 – 10 with 1 being little to no pain and 10 being I can’t handle it anymore.

We can’t eliminate all pain as the body still needs to communicate with the person's mind to enable them to safely take care of themselves.  The body will continue to use pain as a signal to communicate needs for rest and healing. When the body knows it can get the message out swiftly and be understood, it can send normal pain messages. A normal pain message should only ever be at a a pain level of 1 or 2 … this level works when the individual is listening to their body’s messages for healing.

Setting the volume on your alarm.

What level of pain do you want your body to use to message you? What level of pain do you need to hear and respond to body messages regarding pan? How long do you need to hear the message in order to proceed slowly and carefully with your body?

A fire alarm deliberately surprises and then annoys you to motivate you to move toward safety. The alarm says, Pay Attention!  Get Moving!  Or Stop! It continues to sound for as long as you need to remain vigilant.

Until the reason for the alarm is discovered and the problem assessed and management begun, 
the alarm will continue to sound. Once the problem is solved and the threat of danger resolved, 
the alarm is quieted and re-set to detect future threats. The ability to detect future threats only arises with the reset. If the alarm stays on, we try to mask the noise miss future danger signals. When this happens, we are in a kind of danger all of the time because we can not be reached and alerted to new danger.

Pain is no different to an alarm.
We need the right level of pain volume to make us take the most appropriate action. The pain
message needs to be at a volume to alert us to give our body the right attention and urgency

The unconscious mind responds with the body to what it thinks the threat is, not to what the threat actually is.

If your pain level for awareness is 3 and you push through because it’s a “good day”, your pain level awareness will be trained to be a 4 …
then a 5 … you will slowly train yourself to be more and more tolerant until permanent and much greater damage is done!

Make yourself a promise.

We must learn to trust the body and its messages again 

Make a promise to yourself, repeat it out loud in front of a mirror:

When the pain is a level _______ I will actively seek out the healing I need. I trust you and thank you.

To further understand the messages pain is sending, ask yourself: 

Are there any positive outcomes that arise as a result of my being in pain?

Does having the pain serve any benefit at all?

What are the ways this pain has negatively impacted my life? What negative outcomes have arisen or do I fear will arise?

What are the most compelling reasons for seeking the change we are engaging in hypnotherapy to resolve?

What are some of the positive things you will do once the pain is diminished?