MIND-BODY COACHING FOR CHRONIC PAIN RECOVERY
Mind-body coaching draws on psychology, neuroscience, pain reprocessing therapy (PRT), and emotional awareness and expression therapy (EAET) techniques to help reduce or eliminate chronic pain symptoms caused by neuroplastic pain.
Neuroplastic pain is not caused by structural damage to the body, but by the neural circuitry of our brains. Although neuroplastic pain is driven by the brain, the pain it causes is excruciatingly real. Pain is a danger signal designed to protect us, and our brains can generate pain when they perceive any kind of threat; thus, psychological and emotional stressors may activate pain, even when our body is not physically injured or has healed.
Here’s the good news: if the causes of pain are in our brains, then the keys to healing may be there, too. Coaching addresses cognitive, behavioral, and emotional patterns and allows us to retrain our brain’s interpretation of and response to signals from our body. These changes can break the fear-pain cycle of chronic pain, leading to the minimization or reversal of pain.
Our brains are neuroplastic and capable of change, so neuroplastic pain is a treatable and potentially reversible condition. We’ll create a personalized pain recovery plan that’s supported by weekly video sessions, text check-ins, and accountability measures—all designed to support your healing journey.
Ready to get started? Let’s have a conversation to support your decision-making before we tackle logistics. Use the button below to schedule a complimentary 15-minute chat (by phone or on Zoom).
DAWN’S EXPERIENCE
I have experienced chronic pain throughout my life, including ongoing headaches and back, neck, knee, and shoulder pain. In 2019, while on a mountaineering trip, my back pain progressed until it was difficult to walk; I spent the next 1.5 years in intense daily pain before adopting PRT approaches to healing.
I know firsthand how chronic pain can sideline individuals from activities and responsibilities, isolate them from friends, undermine their independence, and impact their hope for the future. I have deep empathy for those who are currently struggling and would be honored to support your healing.
I am a certified Pain Reprocessing Therapy Practitioner through the Pain Reprocessing Center and have also completed a seven-week Freedom from Chronic Pain practitioner training with physician Howard Schubiner and psychologist Hal Greenham on applied neuroplasticity and chronic pain treatment. I draw on these trainings, other modalities such as Somatic Experiencing and trauma-sensitive mindfulness, and my own lived experience to support clients in their healing.
WHAT WE’LL DO TOGETHER:
Coaching is individualized and designed to support you to:
Learn about neuroplastic pain and recovery (neuroscience is fun!)
Gather and reinforce personalized evidence that your pain is neuroplastic
Learn and practice tools for responding differently to pain
Increase nervous system regulation
Address pain triggers, including emotional and social/environmental threats
Identify and implement tools for self-care
Reintroduce and begin new activities to live life the way you envision
Create a relapse prevention plan
Healing does not happen overnight and involves daily personal practice. I cannot make your symptoms go away, but I’ll be here to support you along the way. Most individuals find it helpful to commit to at least eight weeks of coaching.
YOU MIGHT BE A GOOD CANDIDATE FOR MIND-BODY COACHING IF:
You’ve been told that your pain is medically unexplained
Your pain from an acute injury has not resolved in 3-6 months
Your pain began without any physical precipitation
Your pain moves around your body
Your pain levels are inconsistent throughout the day
Your pain is triggered by specific activities or conditions (e.g. stress)
Imaging reveals “normative” findings, including degenerative disc disease or bulging discs (these are frequently found in people without pain)
CONDITIONS THAT MIND-BODY WORK CAN HELP TO ADDRESS:
Tension and migraine headaches
Back pain, neck pain, knee pain, etc.
Whiplash
Fibromyalgia
Irritable bowel syndrome
Long COVID
Chronic fatigue syndrome
…and more.
Note: Neuroplastic pain has many names, including: primary pain, nociplastic pain, psychophysiologic disorder (PPD), neural circuit disorder, tension myositis syndrome (TMS), mindbody syndrome (MBS), and central sensitization. If you’ve been diagnosed with any of these, mind-body coaching may help your recovery.
“We saw large and long-lasting reductions in pain, so big that we created a category that hasn’t been used much in the research before: ‘pain-free or nearly pain-free.’”
THE SCIENCE OF CHRONIC PAIN TREATMENT
Breakthroughs in pain science are transforming how we understand and treat chronic pain. Recent studies have shown that some forms of chronic pain are often not due to structural causes, but rather are psychophysiologic processes that can be reversed (see references 1, 2, and 3).
An NIH-funded 2021 randomized clinical trial of pain reprocessing therapy (Ashar et al.) (4) was the first evidence-based study proving the efficacy of PRT. 98% of participants in the PRT group improved, and 66% were either pain-free or nearly pain-free after four weeks of PRT, compared to only 20% of participants in the placebo group and 10% of participants in the usual care group. PRT patients reported a significant reduction in fear and catastrophizing and 52% remained pain-free or nearly pain-free at a one-year follow-up. The average duration of participants’ pain was 10 years.
Eight recent brain-focused studies of pain treatment (5) have shown that emotional awareness and expression therapy (EAET) may reduce pain levels in patients with fibromyalgia, chronic pelvic pain, and medically unexplained symptoms. Notably, the largest trial found superiority of EAET over cognitive-behavioral therapy for fibromyalgia.
1. Castro WH, Meyer SJ, Becke ME, Nentwig CG, Hein MF, Ercan BI et al. (2011). No stress – no whiplash? Prevalence of ‘whiplash’ symptoms following exposure to a placebo rear-end collision. International Journal of Legal Medicine, 114, 316-22.
2. Bigos SJ, Battié MC, Fisher LD et al. (1991) A prospective study of work perceptions and psychosocial factors affecting the report of back injury. Spine, 16(1),1-6.
3. Baliki MN, Petre B, Torbey S, Herrmann KM et al. (2012). Corticostriatal functional connectivity predicts transition to chronic back pain. Natture Neuroscience 15, 1117-1119.
4. Ashar, Y. K., Gordon, A., Schubiner, H., Uipi, C., Knight, K., Anderson, Z., Carlisle, J., Polisky, L., Geuter, S., Flood, T. F., Kragel, P. A., Dimidjian, S., Lumley, M. A., & Wager, T. D. (2022). Effect of Pain Reprocessing Therapy vs Placebo and Usual Care for Patients With Chronic Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA psychiatry, 79(1), 13–23. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.2669
5. Lumley, M. A., & Schubiner, H. (2019). Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy for Chronic Pain: Rationale, Principles and Techniques, Evidence, and Critical Review. Current rheumatology reports, 21(7), 30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11926-019-0829-6