Sep 18 2009
Pain and the Mind-Body Connection
About 16 years ago, in the midst of my studies for my PhD in mind-body psychology, I was working with a woman who had a degenerative disease she believed was caused by breast implant. We did healing work for months. She began to look so much better, friends told her she wouldn’t look sick for the court case.She laughed as she told me this.
I was looking forward to hearing her lab tests, because she was doing so much better.
There was no change in the tests … she was still doing better.
In my studies, I read about research on pain that was done with combat veterans. Their level of pain was compared with those of men who had had cancer surgery.
The combat veterans had much more severe injuries than the men with cancer. The veterans’ injuries were sustained out of a hospital with no “clean” cuts and certainly with delayed treatment. Cancer surgery was done with a sharp knife, rather than shrapnel, and in a sterile environment.
You’d think the veterans with their more severe wounds would have greater pain. They didn’t. In fact, they used little, if any, pain medication.
And, no, it wasn’t due to acting tough. If you saw the two groups of men in the lounge, you could tell the guys with cancer were in pain. The veterans were laughing, talking, playing cards.
Were the guys with the “clean” surgery “wusses?” No, the difference was the mind body connection.
The veterans were now home. They were no longer in danger and wouldn’t be going back to danger. Their injuries represented heroism and home.
The men who had just had surgery just had their life turned upside down. They didn’t know what was going to happen, whether they’d even life.
The bodies of my former client and the veterans both represented a resolution of mental and emotional pain that manifested in less physical pain.
Yesterday, I was with another client who is faced with what I prefer to call “an overgrowth of cells” rather than cancer. (”Cancer” engenders fear. “Overgrowth of cells” doesn’t have fear associated with it.) She was telling me how much less her breast hurt after our session the week before.
Yes, I did energy based healing with her. More importantly, we worked to relieve her fear. After a short hour of her crying, me moving the congested energy of fear from her breast, the pain was gone. Her fear was dramatically lowered. The physical pain was decreased.
When I work with people in pain, I, also, assist them in healing the emotional wounds underlying the pain. When the wounds are healed, the pain decreases. They physical body feels better. That’s what happened with the client years ago. The same was true for the men who were safe from war.
When you have physical pain, ask for healing of emotions which may be underlying the pain. The emotions may, in fact, have nothing to do with the injury or dis-ease. The healing work done with the first woman had to do with childhood issues. We didn’t even touch on the current problems.
The emotional pain of the past builds up in the body. The Western world has little concept of this. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), however, believes that certain parts of the body store certain emotions. Drain the emotion, the pain will decrease.
The mind-body connection is a fascinating and powerful connection to explore with any physical issue.
