Psychologist Carly Hunt has devoted her career to understanding chronic pain--what causes it, how it keeps going long after the body has healed from injury or illness, and, most crucially, how sufferers can reclaim their lives. State-of-the-art neuroscientific research reveals suprising new insights into pain as the brain's alarm system, designed to warn us of danger. When that alarm gets stuck in a high-alert mode, Dr. Hunt shows how a range of proven interventions can help sufferers not only cope with pain, but actively reduce it. This concise, practical guide is packed with information about brain training techniques, lifestyle changes that target inflammation and other pain triggers, resources for self-care and support, and conventional and complementary medicine approaches that readers can weave into their own integrative care plan. Freedom from chronic pain is possible--this compassionate book shows how.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
I. Understanding Your Pain
1. Setting the Stage for Healing: Understanding Pain and Your Brain
2. Identifying Threats
3. Identifying Sources of Joy and Meaning
II. Reducing Threats and Finding Safety
4. Working with Pain Sensations and Thoughts: Mindfulness-Based and Cognitive Approaches
5. Addressing Trauma
6. Cultivating Healthy Relationships and Belonging
III. Finding Joy and Living Meaningfully
7. Savoring
8. Self-Compassion
9. Benefiting Others
10. Pursuing Meaning in Life
IV. Lowering Inflammation to Heal Chronic Pain
11. Eat to Live: Lower Inflammation with Food
12. Quiet the Alarm and Boost the Reward System with Good Sleep
13. It’s Safe to Move: Lowering Inflammation, Pain, and Fear While Boosting the Reward System
V. Widening the Lens: Building a Holistic Pain Self-Management Plan
14. Integrative Pain Care
15. Going Forward--with a Plan
My Integrative Pain Care Plan: For My Providers
Resources
References
Index
About the Author
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