It’s optimistic to hope that chronic pain can be cured as easily as by writing problems on a piece of paper and ripping it up. This probably only works for some people, though, and for many others the suggestion to do this would come across as condescending and probably make matters worse.
This might be a useful tool in the chronic pain management arsenal, along with CBT (which is already a staple chronic pain treatment) and other mindset-based approaches like that of Dr John Sarno.
Yes, it might only work for some people- what I would like to know is whether those “some people” are 5%, 10%, 50% or 90%- that would tell us how many of the 65 million disability years could be saved. And when I went to the doctor and physiotherapist, CBT and mind-body wern’t mentioned- just painkillers and anti- inflammatories- and lots of exercises, which I’ve detailed here: https://stuartwiffin.substack.com/p/fascia-and-lower-back?s=w
So, data! I posted this as a reply to another post:
Has anyone ever done a proper trial (with independent funding!) of the methods proposed by James Pennebaker, John Sarno, Howard Schubiner, Alan Gordon or (my personal favourite- it worked for me) David Hanscom?
“Part of me is tempted to recommend Unlearn Your Pain to my patients on the same principle. And if any readers of this blog have chronic pain and want to try the month-long self-help therapy course in this book, I would be very interested in hearing back from you (please tell me before you start, so that there aren’t response biases). ”
But I don’t know if anyone ever took him up on the offer. The actual treatment costs are virtually zero, so if these methods work (partially?) they could potentially save a large number of those 65 million disability years. It’s the ultimate effective altruism project. Surely someone who reads this has the authority and cash to get a proper trial done?
As Guy points out, I don’t link to any research because I can’t find any- let’s do some!
It’s not a useful tool if noone has heard of it...
And it’s not optimistic, it’s factual, evidence based- I’ve done it now on 7 people and I’ve basically run out of people I know with pain- does anyone out there know anyone with chronic pain who would be willing to give this a try? If so, please get in touch so I can keep a tally of the results.
It’s optimistic to hope that chronic pain can be cured as easily as by writing problems on a piece of paper and ripping it up. This probably only works for some people, though, and for many others the suggestion to do this would come across as condescending and probably make matters worse.
This might be a useful tool in the chronic pain management arsenal, along with CBT (which is already a staple chronic pain treatment) and other mindset-based approaches like that of Dr John Sarno.
Yes, it might only work for some people- what I would like to know is whether those “some people” are 5%, 10%, 50% or 90%- that would tell us how many of the 65 million disability years could be saved. And when I went to the doctor and physiotherapist, CBT and mind-body wern’t mentioned- just painkillers and anti- inflammatories- and lots of exercises, which I’ve detailed here: https://stuartwiffin.substack.com/p/fascia-and-lower-back?s=w
So, data! I posted this as a reply to another post:
Has anyone ever done a proper trial (with independent funding!) of the methods proposed by James Pennebaker, John Sarno, Howard Schubiner, Alan Gordon or (my personal favourite- it worked for me) David Hanscom?
I saw that Scott asked for volunteers for a trial here : https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/06/26/book-review-unlearn-your-pain/
“Part of me is tempted to recommend Unlearn Your Pain to my patients on the same principle. And if any readers of this blog have chronic pain and want to try the month-long self-help therapy course in this book, I would be very interested in hearing back from you (please tell me before you start, so that there aren’t response biases). ”
But I don’t know if anyone ever took him up on the offer. The actual treatment costs are virtually zero, so if these methods work (partially?) they could potentially save a large number of those 65 million disability years. It’s the ultimate effective altruism project. Surely someone who reads this has the authority and cash to get a proper trial done?
As Guy points out, I don’t link to any research because I can’t find any- let’s do some!
It’s not a useful tool if noone has heard of it...
And it’s not optimistic, it’s factual, evidence based- I’ve done it now on 7 people and I’ve basically run out of people I know with pain- does anyone out there know anyone with chronic pain who would be willing to give this a try? If so, please get in touch so I can keep a tally of the results.