Pain Reprocessing Therapy
A basic understanding of the neuroscience – the relationship between your brain and body and what the chronic pain/symptoms mean
Somatic tracking – a key fear-reduction technique which involves observing and experiencing your pain without fear, helping to calm your central nervous system and rewire your brain to produce less pain
Expressive writing/therapeutic journaling – a writing method that can help you to identify, understand and process hidden sources of stress
Breathing – better breathing and breathing exercises can signal a sense of safety to the brain, reducing stress and inflammation and turning down the volume on pain
Meditation – helping your brain to understand that it doesn’t have to create pain to remain on high alert and protect you from danger; it can be in a state of relaxed awareness and still keep you safe
Mindful awareness – helping you to learn to live in the present and to notice, accept and let go of some of the things that can perpetuate mind body pain, like fear, anxiety, sadness, issues from the past, or worries about the future. It also helps you to be kind to yourself
Relaxation techniques, visualisation, guided imagery – helping your body and brain to achieve a state of deep mental and physical relaxation
Counselling – identifying and understanding what might be causing you stress, and via this process rewiring your brain to allow it to regulate whether, and how much, pain you feel
Self-Care – learning to focus on your emotional needs; improving your self-esteem; becoming less self-critical; learning to deal with situations, places, people or emotions that you might have avoided due to the stress they cause. If you feel safe through self-care, you will reduce your pain and symptoms
Medication for pain, anxiety and/or depression; physiotherapy/osteopathy – as and when appropriate. It is important that you feel supported and safe throughout your recovery
Educating yourself through relevant books, apps and helpful videos
Using peer-support groups, either in person or online – can help with validation of the diagnosis, mutual support, advice, discussion and encouragement
