Chronic Pain-Changing Attitudes in Western Medicine

by Evelyn Cole

When I was nine years old my father suffered a "nervous breakdown," whatever that was. The term is no longer in vogue. He was sick in every part of his body. When one part healed another part hurt.
His doctor finally told him he needed to see a psychiatrist. That shocked him. He began reading instead, everything he could to heal himself. It took him seven years.
During that difficult time my mother suffered chronic back pain. Years later I suffered chronic shoulder pain until I had both shoulders replaced.
I'm sure you know someone who suffers chronic pain.
Here is an excerpt from a fascinating lecture presented at the 14th annual meeting of the American Association of Orthopaedic Medicine, Tempe Arizona Feb.21, 1997

The title: Psychological Factors in Chronic Pain by Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, M.D., PhD:
"Most pain treating physicians have a vague notion, that there may be a psychological component contributing to the severity of chronic pain. The International Association for the Study of Pain defined pain as 'an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with the actual or potential tissue damage'.
"The well respected British neurologist and researcher Barry Wyke demonstrated, that the neurological signal from a painful stimulus travels from the receptors in the periphery to the thalamus, where the message is split: one pathway goes up to the sensory cortex, telling the patient where the pain is and what particular sensation it causes. The other pathway goes to the frontal lobe, which is now accepted as being partially part of the limbic system. Stimulation of this area gives the patient the emotional experience that goes along with having pain ("it makes me sick, hopeless …I feel terrible.).
"Patients, that had their frontal lobes removed, can still tell pain, but there is no suffering whatsoever that goes along with the experience. It is really the "psychological" component that has earned chronic pain the attention it is given in modern medicine. Why then are we not focusing our attention on the ways in which we can help patients in this area? Why are most of us still trying to "fix" pain with all the invasive procedural approaches available today? "

With such recognition of psychological factors in chronic pain and illness, medical doctors are now studying the pathways of chronic pain. No longer is there shame that the subconscious mind can be the source of pain. Increasingly, Western medical professional are giving credence to one significant pathway defined in Eastern medicine 4000 years ago.
These doctors and psychologists use acupressure combined with specific emotional statements to release the blocked energy causing pain with results that not only amaze the patients, but the doctors as well. Called "The Emotional Freedom Technique," it is bringing really good news to everyone who experiences it.
We don't need to take seven years to get well. Seven minutes will do.
To see a fascinating seven-minute video, go here: http://tinyurl.com/fygrg