When Pain Becomes an Emotion
Neil Bindemann PhD
What to do?
This was the main topic of discussion when Neil Bindemann and Deepak Ravindran met to chat at Braincare 2024. The recording of that conversation is available from our YouTube channel, and the link is provided at the end.
In addition to the points discussed, there are several points, that I feel can also be applied to stress and & fear, when they become emotions including:
– How by perceiving pain as an “outcome” it can lead to asking, how does pain become an outcome, especially when it is chronic.
– If a person’s thinking can generate pain, as the outcome, does that, therefore, suggest changing a person’s thinking can reverse the whole situation?
– The significance of our thoughts (words) & emotions, in terms of how the nature of them, & the consequences that can have on communication between our immune and nervous systems.
– How trauma can impact us via our senses, our thinking & emotions, with consequences not only in upsetting communication between the immune, endocrine & nervous systems, also how an unbalanced immune system can be responsible for various illnesses.
To explain that last point in a bit more detail:
What if a message from the brain to the immune system was to come at the wrong moment, ie because the “smoke alarm” had been set off.
How could that happen?
Very simply, the sensory system can get confused, or become “overly sensitive’.
Can that happen as a result of a trauma, via the immediate “conditioning”, that results from trauma ?
To offer an answer to that question, I’d like to share what can happen to a dog (and it happened to our dog).
It will immediately start avoiding a fence, when it mistakenly touches an electric one, protecting the sheep.
I’m pleased to report that “behaviour” has stopped. That is likely to be down to the dogs senses being “rewilded” over time, and so his brain has “forgotten”.
So when a person experiences trauma, there is a very real possibility the brain can be triggered, through “conditioned” senses, which can “kick the self-defence system into action”.
If that happens, I wonder if it makes sense for outcomes to include the likes of:
Autoimmune disorders
Allergies (of all kinds) perhaps?
Even a dysfunctional nervous system, which is what some label “FND”
Most importantly, though, is the point made during our conversation:
Do you believe by reversing the nature of thoughts and emotions it is possible to alter the outcome?
To address that question, Person-Centred Neurosciences Society (P-CNS) and the Lifestyle Health Foundation look forward to sharing various living experiences, from the likes of Braincare.
