My migraine headaches began on the Fourth of July when I was five years old. By age fifty, I had over fifteen physical and mental symptoms from being in a state of sustained threat physiology. They became extreme and intolerable. I completely lost hope of ever regaining any semblance of … Read More
I often encounter a perplexing situation: A patient experiencing severe chronic pain on my spine intake questionnaire rates him or herself as a zero on a 10-point scale with regards to anxiety, depression, and anger. They may have even undergone multiple failed spine surgeries. Yet upon further, almost intrusive, questioning … Read More
Being a victim is universal because we are victims. Life is challenging for all living creatures, including humans. We are competing for resources and a lot of behaviours are less than pleasant. Humans have an additional problem in that we have consciousness, which impacts us as much as physical threats, … Read More
There is a “genealogy” of anger. It begins with a person or situation that you blame for upsetting you. You then go into a victim role and become upset. “Upset” can range from being irritated to flying into a rage. The circumstance may be real or perceived. Either way the … Read More
Omega Institute – June 7 – 9, 2019 – Relief from Chronic Pain The essence of curing chronic pain is connecting to your own body’s capacity to heal. When you are trapped by any circumstance, especially chronic pain, first your anxiety escalates and then you become angry. Your body is full of … Read More
My creative artist friend, Ernesto, endured a rough couple of years and for a while he “disappeared”. The details are not important. What is important is that he is back and thriving. This piece is a statement of his time in the “Abyss.” I spend over eight years in darkness. … Read More
Neurological circuits are permanent Pain pathways are permanent. So are the intertwined anxiety and anger circuits. I am personally reminded of this fact on a daily basis. It happened in a particularly dramatic fashion while on vacation in Italy. Florence My wife lived in Florence, Italy from 1983 to 1990. … Read More
I had a lot going on during my junior year in high school. I had left home to attend a boarding school and was free from a chaotic household. It was also incredibly stressful trying to figure out what was going on and how I fit in. In the midst … Read More
I talk about how anxiety and stress can lead to certain obsessive tendencies. Some of the tools from the DOCC project are laid out, specifically those that can help break down the circuits that fuel anxious and stressful thoughts and behaviors. For more, see Your Demons are Robots. BF
I was raised in an abusive household and living that life seemed normal because it was all that I knew. I was truly a victim, but I didn’t know it at the time. It was only through extensive counseling that I realized I was continuing to play that role. It is … Read More