Blog Index

Recent Posts

Calming Down and Healing with Vagal Nerve Stimulation (VNS)

The Relationship Between Chronic Stress and Health Stress is commonly perceived as a psychological term. That is simply not true ...

“Many Italians Choose Suicide” – People Need to Work

Overview The essence of healing is feeling safe. Your body regenerates and heals. Not being able to support yourself or ...

Why I Keep Pushing Forward – A Mother’s Story of Healing

I am sharing these letters from a former patient to explain why I continue to work to help people escape ...

My Story of Hope

I had a rough start living in a chaotic household with an angry mother who suffered from chronic pain. I ...

Who Do You Choose to be Today?

Objectives Most of us intellectually understand that the only moment we have in life is this very one. That is ...

Schadenfreude: Your Pain My Pleasure

Schadenfreude—the pleasure derived from another’s misfortune—is biologically rooted in the brain’s reward system. Brain imaging studies reveal that when we witness the ...

Spine Surgery in the Presence of Chronic Pain – Mangione Situation

I am part of a documentary titled “Who is Luigi Mangione?” It will air this coming Monday evening, February 17th, ...

RUTs – Can’t Take Your Hand Off the Stove? Turn Down the Heat

Holding your hand over a hot burner triggers an immediate threat response (anxiety) and prompts action to address that threat ...

Anger Manifesto – “Humans, wake up!!”

Humanity Won’t Survive Without Engaging its Thinking Brain No Action in a Reaction The Human Survival Paradox Consider a time ...

Avoid Surgery by Raising the Pain Threshold

A friend of mine asked me for an opinion a couple of years ago about his back. I was giving ...

I Took a Walk with Bella Today – A consideration of what we can learn from other species.

This article was written by my close friend, DR Clawson. He is a physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, ...

Stories of Hope

Hope is healing An important aspect of healing is regaining hope and optimism. When you are trapped without any hint ...

Stage 1 - Lay the Foundation

Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:

Step 1 - Learn About Your Pain
Step 2 - Expressive Writing
Step 3 - Active Meditation
Step 4 - Sleep
Step 5 - Don't Share Your Pain

Physical versus Emotional Pain

The Swerve, by Steven Greenblatt is a historical account of a papal scribe’s discovery in the 1400’s of a poem, The ...

Healing Power Within—Warts

I had a lot going on during my junior year in high school. I had left home to attend a ...

Mold Your Brain: Neuroplasticity

STOMP Dr. Gordon Irving was the medical director of the Pain center at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, WA. He developed ...

Unhooking from the Train

Your body under chronic stress There are multiple physical and mental manifestations of a chronically fired up nervous system. With ...

My Feet on Fire

I began my orthopedic surgery residency in 1981. I had an unusual path into this specialty in that I had ...

My Midnight Trip to the Dentist

My dentist is a great guy. Our children played sports together in elementary school. Still, I tend to skip going ...

My Battle with NPD

The concept that stress can create physical symptoms has been around for centuries. In modern times we have become enamored ...

Freed by a Pen

I was running an hour late in clinic and was trying to get through my last patient before my already ...

Neurophysiological Disorder -“Short Circuits”

Dr. Howard Schubiner is board-certified in pediatrics, adolescent medicine, and internal medicine. He was a full time professor at Wayne ...

A – Structural Sources of Pain

It is an almost universally held belief among surgeons and patients that a specific structural lesion is usually the cause ...

You are Not a Machine

Pain is a perception that is affected by many factors. Our western medical culture has focused on the idea that ...

Unlearning How to Ride Your Bicycle

I don’t recall much about learning how to ride a bicycle. I remember the training wheels and taking a few ...

Video: Anxiety and It’s Demons

I talk about how anxiety and stress can lead to certain obsessive tendencies. Some of the tools from the DOCC ...

Video 16/19: “White Bears”

I talk about how the suppression of negative thoughts associated with chronic pain can really fire up the nervous system ...

Back Pain vs. Mouth Pain

I am a busy spine surgeon, yet I spend most of my time talking my patients out of surgery. When ...

Video: Memorizing the Circuits: Phantom Pain

Our brain has neurological circuits that can become memorized. In this video I discuss phantom pain, which is more the ...

Stage 2 - Forgive and Play

Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:

Step 1 - Understand the Impact of Anger on Your Life
Step 2 - Acknowledge Your Disguises
Step 3 - Admit Your Victimhood
Step 4 - Forgive
Step 5 - Play

“Self-Esteem” Must Die

In our society today, it’s commonly believed that the higher the opinion you have of yourself, the more confident, happy, ...

The Angry Meditator

Meditation is a powerful tool in calming down your nervous system, and is a skill that everyone should be taught ...

“Finding Health by Letting Go of Hate”

The common thread of those who successfully heal from chronic pain and other symptoms of Neurophysiologic Disorder (NPD) is letting ...

The Elephant’s Noose

The Elephant’s Noose If you are angry, in a reactive mode, it’s difficult to develop a plan. A metaphor showing ...

School or Prison – What’s the Difference?

Bullying bothers me–a lot. When I was in middle school and high school, I was very fortunate in that I ...

Anger and Workers’ Comp Webinar

Our medical and political system has failed. Employers have abused workers as long as there have been employers and workers ...

Anger Simplified

Threat (perceived or real danger) creates a neurochemical inflammatory reaction (anxiety) And a need for control to escape the threat ...

Taking Back Your Spirit-Caroline Myss

Caroline Myss-Taking Back Your Spirit Anger and chronic pain are linked pathways. It is not possible to release yourself from ...

“I Am Not Letting Yesterday Ruin Today”

I had been working with Anne for a while and she had been experiencing chronic pain throughout her body for ...

Labeled “Drug Seeker” and Almost Died

One of the core concepts of the human condition is labeling experiences, trends, groups or people. It comes along with ...

Anger-The Absolute Block

It has become clear that if a given patient engages in the principles outlined in this book, he or she ...

Maslow’s Miss

Abraham Maslow Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) was a brilliant professor of psychology. He founded a branch of psychology known as “Humanistic ...

Video: The Myth of Self Esteem

Self esteem involves endless judgment of comparing yourself to others around you. I discuss the negative impact that this concept ...

“C”ing Clearly

All of us know we can’t think clearly when we’re upset. There’s a physiological reason why. Adrenaline and other stress ...

Video 15/19: Anger Fueled Anxiety-“The Highway to Hell”

I discuss how anger is the turbocharger that keeps anxiety both covered up and fired up. Until you turn off ...

Enjoy Your Day-Today

“Happy” We all want to become better, happier people, and we work pretty hard at it. The marketing world keeps ...

Stage 3 - Move Forward

Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:

Step 1 - Commit to a Daily Practice
Step 2 - Create a Safe Haven - Family
Step 3 - Get Organized
Step 4 - Connect with the Life You Want
Step 5 - Create Your Vision

“I’m Paying You to Inflict Pain??”

This is Scott, who is a personal trainer that I work out with on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 am ...

Breaking Loose – Not Quite

Family Patterns Behavioral patterns laid into your nervous system are the essence of your life view. Until you become aware ...

Escaping Your Family – The Crab Bucket

Having a family member on disability is a significant risk factor for becoming disabled. For years, I was puzzled by ...

Mastering Pain – Shuhari

The foundation of the DOC project is understanding that pain circuits are permanently laid down in your brain quickly. It ...

STOMP – Structuring Your Own Management of Pain

Structuring the Own Management of Your Pain (STOMP) is a program that was developed by Dr. Gordon Irving and his ...

Mirror Neurons—Family Healing

I always ask family members or close friends to fully engage in the DOC project. It is not just for ...

Protect Your Family from Your Pain

Chronic pain is dangerous Chronic pain is dangerous. When you are trapped by anything in life, especially pain, you’ll become ...

Staying in the Storm

Almost every patient of mine who is in chronic pain is also experiencing much adversity in the rest of his ...

Pain to Pleasure-Pavlov’s Dogs

When I began to witness patients becoming pain free, I thought that it would happen only for patients with diffuse ...

Breaking Loose – NOT

Behavioral patterns laid into your nervous system are the essence of your life view. Until you become aware of them ...

Visualization – Holt’s Winning Run

Stimulating your brain to form new circuits first involves awareness of what already is, separating or creating some space between ...

Pain = Anger = Abuse

I was raised in a chaotic household. My mother was physically and emotionally abusive. It was confusing for me to ...

Stage 4 Posts - Expand Your Consciousness

Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:

Step 1 - Pass Through the "Ring of Fire"
Step 2 - Step Into Your New Life
Step 3 - "Failing" Well
Step 4 - Look Up - Your Spiritual Journey
Step 5 - Giving Back is Healing

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Stage 5 - Decision-making

Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:

Step 1 - General Principles - The Grid
Step 2 - The Source of Your Pain
Step 3 - The Impact of Stress on Your Pain and Decision-making
Step 4 - Understanding the Magnitude of the Surgery
Step 5 - Making the Final Surgical Decision
Step 6 - Stories of Surgical Despair

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Stage 6 Posts - Procedures

Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:

Step 1 - General Considerations: Magnitude vs. Benefit
Step 2 - Decompressions
Step 3 - Lumbar Fusions
Step 4 - Deformity Surgery
Step 5 - Other Spine Surgeries
Step 6 - Stories of Surgical Despair

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Important Posts

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Stories of Hope

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Expressive Arts Posts

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Other Posts

Repetitive Unpleasant Thoughts

Click a Show Section button below to view the posts in that section.

Section 1 - Overview of RUTs

Overview of RUTs

RUTs - Defining the Problem

“The Curse of Consciousness” – Trapped by Your Thoughts

Objectives: Unpleasant thoughts are impossible to avoid and can significantly impact your quality of life. They are a “neurological trick” created by your unconscious brain. They are not subject to rational interventions. The root cause of the problem is the ...

Quit Fighting Darkness and Turn on the Light

Objectives We are trained that if we can solve enough of our problems, we’ll have an “enjoyable life.” Life’s challenges never stop, and we may slowly sink into darkness, “The Abyss.” We become desperate trying to escape; especially from our ...

Am I Operating on Your Pain or Anxiety?

My surgical decision-making dramatically changed over the last five years of my practice. In spite of watching so many successes of people healing from chronic pain without surgery, I still had a surgical mindset and was always looking for a ...

My Descent Into The Abyss

Objectives There are many different physical and mental symptoms that are possible when you are in sustained flight or fight physiology. At my lowest point, I was experiencing 17 of them. No one could tell me what was happening despite ...

Section 2 - Solving RUTs

Solving RUTs

Separating Your Identity from Your Physiology

The Gift of Anxiety – Your Bodyguard or Prison Guard?

Objectives: Since the body’s response to threats affects every cell in your body, it feels like part of who you are. We spend a lot of time attempting to avoid this intentionally unpleasant sensation when it is necessary for life ...

Four Aspects of Solving RUTs

Objectives Mental and physical pain are processed in similar regions of the brain. Our inability to escape from RUTs relentlessly drives flight or fight physiology, and people may become ill. There is a healing sequence for solving them: separation of ...

The Popcorn Machine – Healing RUTS

Objectives Repetitive Unpleasant Thoughts (RUTs) are solvable with a multi-pronged self-directed approach. Consider the four aspects in the metaphor of a popcorn machine. They are 1) the kernels 2) the cooking pot 3) the storage compartment 4) the power source ...

Write and Don’t Stop!

There are over 2200 research papers that document that expressive writing in some form is effective for improving both your mental and physical health. I have been adamant for a long time that you should write down just negative ...

Unhooking from the Train

Your body under chronic stress There are multiple physical and mental manifestations of a chronically fired up nervous system. With engagement of the principles that calm it down, the improvements in my patients’ quality of life are consistent and frequently ...

The Three Column Technique

After you have become comfortable with writing down and immediately destroying your thoughts, the next phase involves the “three-column technique that Dr. David Burns outlines in his book, Feeling Good. It provides an excellent format in which to apply the principles ...

Active Meditation

A basic tenet of many Eastern philosophies is that worrying about the future and thinking about the past causes internal unrest. There is anxiety around the future and many regrets and frustrations about the past. By staying only in the ...

Anger Academy

Objectives Processing anger is more doable if it is broken down into its components. Anger is a powerful, necessary, and hard wired survival reflex. You cannot tame it with the conscious brain. It is an acquired skill that requires ongoing ...

Directly Calming the Threat Response

Your capacity to enjoy your life, feel safe and content is dependent on your body’s neurochemical profile. When you are stressed you don’t feel good. There are methods to regulate your body’s stress reaction and inflammatory response. The gift of ...

“5–3–2” – Processing Anger in Three Steps

Objectives Anxiety is an unpleasant sensation generated by your body’s physiological response to real or perceived danger. It compels you to take action to resolve the threat and live another day. If you cannot escape or solve the threat, your ...

RUTs – Can’t Take Your Hand Off the Stove? Turn Down the Heat

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 ...

Quit Fighting Darkness and Turn on the Light

Section 3 - The Evolution of RUTs

The Evolution of RUTs

The Need for Mental Control – The “Ironic Effect”

Your Demons are Robots

It is critical to understand how deeply negative anxiety-producing thoughts are etched into your nervous system. A 1987 Harvard experiment (1) documented that when you suppress unpleasant thoughts, they become more powerful. Unfortunately, they documented a trampoline effect in that they ...

Your “Authentic Self”

The only “authentic self” that exists is the one who is present today – right this very second. Your actions and reactions reflect your entire lifetime of programming. Much of our programming is less than ideal but it is what ...

Your Personal Brain Scanner

Every second of your life depends on your brain scanning your surroundings for trouble. This unconscious process guides your behavior so as to avoid danger and maximize your chances of survival. You will become conscious of this ongoing interaction with ...

Threat versus Safety Physiology

Lesson Objectives Consider ongoing environmental input separately from your body’s responses. Understand the essence of illness/ disease is sustained exposure to real or perceived threats. It creates an adverse chemical profile that increases metabolism (your rate of fuel consumption) and ...

Common Links to Chronic Disease – RUTs are Relentless

Objectives: Understanding the nature of chronic disease and the principles behind the solutions, allows you to fully engage in your care. Characteristics that keep us alive are what also create disease states. Chronic pain is a neurological diagnosis that has ...

We have no protection from mental pain

Objectives: Pain from any body part is a protective danger signal that guides our behavior and physical responses to avoid danger and remain safe. This system is called the nociceptive system, which guides behaviors to not exceed the limits of ...

Section 4 - Consequences of RUTs

Consequences of RUTs

Clinical Manifestations / illnesses/ Diseases

Extreme Mental Pain – OCD

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an extreme form of anxiety. A relentless assault of unwelcome intrusive thoughts characterizes it. I suffered from OCD for several decades, well before I knew what OCD meant. It is becoming increasingly apparent that many ...

School or Prison – What’s the Difference?

Bullying bothers me–a lot. When I was in middle school and high school, I was very fortunate in that I was not a target of bullying. However, I have watched dozens of friends and family come under attack from bullies ...

Threat Physiology Can’t be Controlled with Behavioral Approaches

Objectives Many people are focused on controlling anger and anxiety with behavioural approaches. These powerful reactions are not controllable and suppressing them increases threat physiology. We all need to be heard, supported, and taught methods to regulate and lower these ...