Honoring the integration of mind and body: A patient with chronic pain.

Mind and Body Training to Improve Functioning and Coping With Chronic Pain: A Pilot Study

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews ◽

10.17294/2330-0698.1425 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

pp. 238

Author(s):

Olga Valieva ◽

Leah M Welsh ◽

Betty Amuzu ◽

Niraj Nijhawan ◽

Jessica J.F. Kram

Keyword(s):

Chronic Pain ◽

Pilot Study ◽

Mind And Body ◽

And Coping

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Mind and Body Management Strategies for Chronic Pain and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Qualitative Health Research ◽

10.1177/1049732309341189 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 19 (8) ◽

pp. 1037-1049 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Fauzia Shariff ◽

Jane Carter ◽

Clare Dow ◽

Marie Polley ◽

Maria Salinas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Rheumatoid Arthritis ◽

Chronic Pain ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Mind And Body

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It Was Not Safe to Feel Angry: Disrupted Early Attachment and the Development of Chronic Pain in Later Life

Attachment New Directions in Psychotherapy and Relational Psychoanalysis ◽

10.33212/att.v11n3.2017.223 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 223-241 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Frances Sommer Anderson

Keyword(s):

Chronic Pain ◽

Life Stress ◽

Psychological Treatment ◽

Early Life Stress ◽

Later Life ◽

Secure Attachment ◽

Somatic Pain ◽

Treatment Techniques ◽

Mind And Body

Using detailed clinical material from her treatment of three patients referred by physiatrist John E. Sarno, for psychological treatment of chronic pain, Dr Anderson illustrates a relationship between dissociated/repressed affect and the development of chronic musculoskeletal back pain. Sarno, conversant with the fundamentals of psychoanalysis, theorised that the somatic pain, which he termed tension myoneural syndrome (TMS), served as a distraction from emotions that were unbearable. That is, the pain served as a psychological defense or survival tactic. In treatment, the adverse impact of overwhelming physical and emotional experiences on attachment and emotion regulation are identified and discussed. Detailed clinical process, which includes the use of trauma treatment techniques, illuminate how psychological treatment can be used to help patients identify and tolerate feelings associated with early life stress, leading to relief from the somatic pain. Anderson, informed by the psychosomatic theories of Krystal and McDougall and by contemporary attachment theorists, advances the position that the physician as diagnostician functions symbolically as the "parent" who links mind and body, thereby reducing the patient's fear of pain and creating a secure attachment bond. In this secure attachment relationship, the physician "authorises" the patient to experience emotions that were previously disavowed. In the relationship with an empathic relational psychoanalyst, the patient's pain resolves as s/he builds a capacity to identify and tolerate emotions and learns how to use emotions, particularly anger, to enhance relationships and improve their quality of life.

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