How Your Brain Creates Chronic Pain: Insights from Dr. Howard Schubiner
Episode Overview
Understanding predictive processing and its role in chronic pain. Emotional injuries can cause the same brain responses as physical injuries. Fear and conditioned responses reinforce chronic pain. Treat your brain like a scared child to calm danger signals. Use graded exposure and IFS to address chronic symptoms.
"Our brains decide if we're going to have pain or not, moment by moment."
Ever wondered how your brain might be tricking you into feeling chronic pain? This episode of The Biology of Trauma™ with Dr. Aimie dives deep into this fascinating topic with Dr. Howard Schubiner, a leading voice in mind-body medicine. Dr. Schubiner shares his wealth of knowledge on how our brains predict and generate pain, anxiety, and fatigue, even in the absence of physical injury.
His insights are grounded in years of research and clinical practice, making complex neuroscience accessible and relevant to everyone dealing with chronic symptoms. Dr. Schubiner explains the concept of predictive processing—how our brains create what we experience based on past information and expectations. He illustrates this with captivating examples, such as how the brain can turn off pain in an instant or how emotional injuries can cause the same brain responses as physical injuries.
You’ll also learn about the role of fear and conditioned responses in reinforcing chronic pain, making it habitual. The episode doesn’t just stop at explaining the problem; it offers practical solutions too. Dr. Schubiner introduces the idea of treating your brain like a scared child, using graded exposure and internal family systems (IFS) to address fear and anger towards sensations and pain.
He shares compelling stories of patients who have dramatically reduced their symptoms by understanding and changing their neural circuits. This episode is a must-listen for anyone struggling with chronic pain or those interested in the mind-body connection. It’s packed with eye-opening information and actionable advice that could change how you perceive and manage your symptoms. Ready to rethink what you know about pain? Tune in and discover a new perspective.