By Jennifer Delaney, MA, NCC

The other day a friend was battling a migraine. She had been in the midst of some serious negotiations at work, and remarked, “It’s all coming to a head.”

“To your head?” I reflected.

She laughed. “Evidently!”

It is clear to many clinicians that bodies take the brunt of our inability to process stress and underlying emotions, especially anger and anxiety. Instead of numbing feelings with some substance, pill or comfort food, it’s always more beneficial to learn new ways to acknowledge and release emotions so that we don’t contract an array of physical ailments that cause chronic pain as well as addictions.

According to the Psychology Today website, “Some 30 million Americans suffer from some form of chronic pain.” New paradigms of pain, such as neuromatrix, nerve sensitivity, endocrine and immune responses to pain, neuroplasticity, as well as cognitive and emotional influences are all part of the recent academic conversation exploring this complex phenomenon. Continue reading Brainspotting and Chronic Pain: Physiological Messages