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Pd245
58 Posts |
 Posted - 04/26/2008 : 11:17:40
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I posted a response to someone about Dr. Schubiner's class and brought up how I'm having trouble dealing with a specific conditioned response. MK6283 reiterated about how you should try to be indifferent to the pain (thank you for your response!). I'm into trying to do this. I'm finding it hard to do with migraines, but I'll keep trying.and when it's really bad just looking at the pain for what it is.
My big question is - if you have burning pain all day, what does *distracting* yourself and talking back to the pain really look look on an hour to hour basis? You wake up, notice the pain, talk back to the pain, then think about psychological stuff, then notice the pain, on and on - do you keep this up all day? Do you have to catch your thoughts before they think about the pain? Or is it more a matter of continually moving your thoughts away from the thoughts about pain? So, if I have a terrible headache, the pain is throbbing and feels like the center of my universe. Do I feel the pain, and then think of something psychological, and then two seconds later notice the pain (not consciously, of course), and then think something psychological again, and on and on until the day is over? I'm confused about the specifics about how to use distraction and talking back to the brain when your symptoms are persistent and the day is long. Hope this makes sense. I've noticed that the more I think psychological, the worse my anxiety gets, which seems to compound the pain, rather than relieve it. I'm dedicated to getting this distraction thing down, though. |
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armchairlinguist
USA
1397 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2008 : 17:56:38
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Pd -- I meant to put this earlier in the other thread, but you should definitely check out Fred Amir's book which IMO in the most useful one for deconditioning.
It's really quite TMS-typical to think you would have to repeatedly do the thinking as long as the pain sticks around. That's a rather obsessive viewpoint! The thing to do is, if you have a pain that's chronic, do it when you find it's gotten worse and you're noticing it substantially more. If it's a pain that comes and goes, do it when it comes and you're noticing it. The shift is very brief, probably between 30 seconds and 5 minutes (at MOST).
You just think about the fact that the pain is emotional in origin and benign physically, and that you don't need to pay attention to it, and maybe why it could be coming.
Then think about whatever it is you meant to be thinking about before the pain distracted you -- work, the book you're reading, a basketball game, what you're having for dinner, whatever. Your normal life. The goal is that the pain doesn't distract you from your normal life or your emotions. This is partly why getting back to normal activties to the extent you can is important. Whatever the pain is doing, you basically ignore it to the extent you can and focus on life!
If the distraction doesn't work, and you keep living your life, then the pain should eventually fade.
You don't have to even think about emotions specifically for this if thinking about them is making you more anxious. However, if thinking about emotion is making you anxious, note that the anxiety may be yet another attempt to distract you. It's important not to let this one work either. Anxiety is unpleasant in a different way from pain but similar strategies can be used to counter it.
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It's not 100% belief that's required, but 100% commitment. |
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What does using distractions look like?
