Trauma and pain have long been recognized as related problems involving overlapping physical and emotional distress. Both problems also involve similar mechanisms such as somatic “memories,” emotional disconnection, increased physiological arousal and sensory-emotional dysregulation. Increased understanding of the relationship between trauma and pain, including the role of neurological processes, is leading to new treatments designed to change the sensory-emotional processes which maintain these problems. From mirror-box therapy for phantom-limb pain to EMDR for posttraumatic pain, these new treatments draw on concepts such as bottom-up processing, neuroplasticity and memory processing. In practice they work to break down the split between ‘psyche’ and ‘soma’ via methodologies such as mindfulness, somatic focusing, and dual-attention/bilateral stimulation. Drawing on lesson’s learned over 20 years of clinical experience and research, Mark Grant MA will review the connection between trauma and pain and describe a 6-step phase-oriented approach to the treatment of traumatic pain.
Recorded at the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS)
May 2010, New South Wales, Australia.
Visit STARTTS at : www.STARTTS.org.au
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