Stage 2: Step 1 Archives - Back in Control

The Tragic Decline of Luigi Mangione: Pain, Isolation, and the Human Survival Response

posted in: Recent, Stage 2, Stage 2: Step 1 |

Luigi Mangione’s transformation from a promising academic star to an accused murderer encapsulates the interplay of evolutionary instincts, physical struggles, and societal pressures. His story is cautionary, revealing the deeper mechanisms of stress and anger rooted in human survival instincts and their misalignment with modern life. The Evolutionary Roots of … Read More

Our Need to Feel Safe

posted in: Recent, RUTs, Stage 2, Stage 2: Step 1 |

The deep need to feel and be safe is the driving force of all life, including humans. In this physiological state the body refuels, regenerates, builds muscle and bone, empties waste products, better fights off foreign invaders, and the organism thrives. Consider newborn babies who are cared for and nurtured … Read More

Bullying is Good for Your Health

posted in: Recent, Stage 2, Stage 2: Step 1 |

Bullying is maybe one of the most irrational and unacceptable aspects of the human experience. Everyone at every age, including the bullies, knows it’s wrong. Yet there doesn’t seem to be an effective way to solve it that I’ve seen in my lifetime. A major obstacle is that there are … Read More

Suicide – A Horrible Way to Escape from Pain

posted in: Recent, Stage 2, Stage 2: Step 1 |

Objectives The root cause of suicide is feeling trapped and mental and physical pain are problematic.significant reasons to feel this way. Since mental and physical pain share similar brain circuits, they both create a lot of misery. Modern medicine largely assumes illnesses and symptoms are caused by identifiable structural problems. … Read More

Gun Violence – No Action in a Reaction

posted in: Recent, Stage 2, Stage 2: Step 1 |

Our society continues to wring its hands over ongoing problem of gun violence. The bigger problem is the that of societal anger, which causes us to behave badly when we are in this state. This is true for every human being, no matter how well-intentioned a person you may be. … Read More

The Impact of Anger on Your Life – and Pain

posted in: Recent, Stage 2, Stage 2: Step 1 |

Objectives Most patients in chronic pain are frustrated and angry, whether they recognize it or not. Why wouldn’t they be? They are trapped by unpleasant sensory input. Unresolved anxiety is the driving force behind anger. Anger is your body’s concerted neurochemical last ditch effort to regain control. Being chronically angry … Read More

Mortal Combat – These People are Hurting Each Other

posted in: Recent, Stage 2, Stage 2: Step 1 |

In The DOC Journey, we have observed that the “shortcut” to healing is letting go of anger. You are then able to place your attention on what you want and your brain through the process of neuroplasticity, will respond with structural changes. You brain will develop wherever you place your … Read More

Chronic Pain is Solvable -Take Back Your Life

posted in: Stage 2, Stage 2: Step 1, Stories of Hope |

It has been my observation that suffering from chronic pain affects almost every aspect of your life, especially trying to enjoy yourself. Every enjoyable experience is lessened in the context of pain. You may be able to successfully distract yourself for a bit and not even experience the pain, but … Read More

Stress and Getting Sick – Howard’s Golf Story

posted in: Stage 2, Stage 2: Step 1 |

For those of you who are golfers, you know that golf is a great metaphor for life. It is both challenging and social. I think the bonding is a result of such deeply shared suffering. What is fascinating is that it really is just a game. This is a story … Read More

Destroyed by Bullies

posted in: Stage 2, Stage 2: Step 1 |

Despair I will never forget a 40 year-old woman I met in the office a few years ago. She had suffered from chronic pain that enveloped almost her entire body since her late teenage years. She was anxious, depressed, and would barely lift her head to talk to me. The … Read More

1 2 3 »