Pain is a complicated thing. If you’ve suffered for years because of this, or have “flare ups” of acute events, you get it. Did you realize the root cause can be from something other than physical injury, illness, or disease? Many types of pain can stem from emotions or traumatic events (even ones we don’t logically perceive as “traumatic”) which later manifest into physical symptoms. Pain and emotions are processed the same way in the brain, so it makes sense why we could be extremely stressed and suddenly develop knee pain. Our brain is sending signals so we pay attention, but often we look at the knee pain as separate from the concurrent stress.
Having worked in hospice and holistic care for over 12 years, I can tell you firsthand the impact our thoughts and beliefs have on the manifestation of symptoms. I’ve seen individuals with the most advanced cancer that would cause anyone to buckle over in distress, yet they’re using the least amount of medications compared to others in similar situations. How can that be? I’ve seen others with relatively “mild” illness who are suffering more than can be rationally explained, using insane amounts of medications to find little or no relief. Through extensive research and diving into the power of our mind, I’ve found over and over again that our thoughts and prior beliefs have an incredible impact on the expression of pain. Our minds can also influence how we heal.
There’s a vicious cycle that occurs, however. When we perceive pain, our stress response is activated. Now this is a good thing for acute instances. Our pain and stress response tells us to pay attention. When our stress response is activated too long, we also then can perceive pain. The key is to interrupting this cycle. Reduce stress which reduces the perception of pain. Now, I’m not saying hypnosis can cure a broken leg, Western Medicine is great for that. But what about those individuals who doctor left and right and still find no answers to their symptoms. It’s diagnosed as “Fibromyalgia,” “Irritable Bowel Syndrome,” “Complex Regional Pain Syndrome,”or “Migraines” or just general “Headaches.” The answer lies deeper. It can lie in the subconscious experiences, the trauma, the stories we were told or situations we witnessed that our little, malleable minds take and interpret. Maybe the interpretation was not accurate, but we are meaning making machines, thereby we have to find understanding in everything.
Hypnosis has been proven through many years of clinical testing to alleviate the symptoms. Hypnosis can address the subconscious, root emotional cause for the symptoms one experiences, specifically if other modalities have failed to provide relief. If you have questions or want more information, please reach out! This is such a complicated, but incredible topic that I will expand more upon in the future!