Holding your hand over a hot burner triggers an immediate threat response (anxiety) and prompts action to address that threat. This sequence is part of the protective pain response known as the nociceptive pain system. Numerous danger cues activate this response. As your nervous system memorizes dangerous situations, this system guides you to avoid threats. The goal of the nociceptive system is to reduce pain, and it quickly becomes an automatic reaction. How often must you get close to a hot stove before learning to avoid it?
Some of the most intense pain arises from obstructed internal organs. Kidney stones, gallbladder stones, blocked coronary arteries, and bowel obstructions are among the worst pains imaginable. These pains indicate that you have exceeded the structural limits of your tissue or organ system.
Unpleasant, threatening thoughts (Repetitive Unpleasant Thoughts – RUTs) send danger signals through your nervous system and are processed similarly to physical stimuli. However, we have limited options for coping with them.1 Strategies include using substances to make it more bearable, suppressing thoughts, feelings, and emotions, or developing mental rigidity as a protective barrier.2 Our responses and mechanisms may be effective for a time, but the relentless onslaught wears you down.
You really are trapped
Your goal in addressing physical pain is to distance yourself from the source of discomfort. You wouldn’t keep your hand over a hot burner. It makes no sense to undergo counseling suggesting that the heat isn’t so bad, to prescribe medications to dull the pain, to promote self-medication with alcohol or opioids, to advise you to toughen up and stop complaining, or to immerse yourself in addictions or obsessive activities as a distraction from the pain. Positive thinking is another method of suppressing pain, but it isn’t effective. None of these strategies make any sense if your hand is still close to a hot burner. Yet this is often how we manage mental pain. It’s absurd.
We have little to no conscious control over RUTs. There is no escape. Threat physiology drives RUTs, and RUTs stimulate physiology. In this state, neurotransmitters shift from calming acetylcholine to excitatory glutamate. Your brain contains inflammatory cells called microglia, which lead to inflammation. The speed of nerve conduction doubles.
In summary, your nervous system is hyper-reactive and takes less stress to trigger unpleasant danger signals. This is a bidirectional problem. So, what can you do?
Turn down the heat!
How do you do this? Calm nervous system and then redirect your attention. While this isn’t difficult, it’s impossible without learning the necessary skills. The focus should be on gaining expertise rather than dwelling on pain. The concepts and strategies are outlined in The DOC Journey course. You are learning healing principles, and creating your own toolkit to engage safety physiology is important.
I refer to this approach as “Dynamic Healing.” You learn to manage adversity more quickly, reducing its impact on your body, and foster joy to develop new brain circuits. They are distinct, yet interconnected skill sets. The term “dynamic” is important because pain is simply a danger signal and isn’t a fixed set point. We cannot survive without it. Some days will be great, while others may feel overwhelming, where you’ll enter a state of stress physiology regardless of your skills. You don’t have to stay in that state.
How long does it take to escape pain? That is the wrong question. Rather, how willing am I to commit to a long-term daily practice? How long does it take to become a professional athlete or musician? Furthermore, staying alive involves navigating threats every second. Air, food, water, and shelter seem like givens. Says who? The complexity of threats is infinite. All you can do is navigate your day with the skills you possess. Being free from pain or adversity isn’t possible. Yet somehow, we intuitively feel that we shouldn’t experience pain. It worsens when you get angry about adversity – especially RUTs. You have turned up the heat.
Consider the consequences of lacking the tools to reduce the heat generated by RUTs and other threats. Your hand is truly stuck over the stove. This is one reason pain intensifies over time without additional trauma. While occasionally there are additional anatomical problems, progressive pain usually doesn’t mean more structural damage. You are wearing down.
The Dynamic Healing model presents healing approaches addressing:
- Input – circumstances
- The nervous system
- Output – physiology
These three portals are continually in use, all leading to reduced exposure to threat physiology and enhanced safety. At a specific tipping point, when immersed in abundant safety physiology, the body regenerates and heals. This is truly miraculous; life itself, including the ability to heal, is a miracle. The potential reaches far beyond any self-help methods.
Learn to lower the heat.
References
- Eisenberger N. “The neural bases of social pain: Evidence for shared representations with physical pain.” Psychosom Med (2012); 74: 126-135.
- Giommi F, et al. The (in)flexible self: Psychopathology, mindfulness, and neuroscience. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology (2023); 23:100381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2023.100381