Free online conference on overcoming chronic pain

[Snowdrop]

AVAIYA have a free online conference on overcoming chronic pain starting 21st January 2020. Some of the sessions are about chronic pain and trauma.

You can find out more about the conference and sign up here: https://www.avaiya.com/chronic-pain/

[Kizzie]

Tks for the heads up Snowdrop! 

[Snowdrop]

I've written some notes on the session by Richard Schwartz (IFS).

There was a study about 12 years ago on using IFS with Rheumatoid Arthritis. It had exceptional results. The participants were asked to focus on the pain, get to a point where they felt curious about it, and ask questions about it. Answers often came from parts that were using the pain to send messages to the person, or to punish them. They often related to the caretaking parts. The parts that were using the RA hated the caretaking parts, and they were trying to hurt the caretaking parts to stop them caretaking, or to get them to listen to them. In some cases, the RA went into full remission.

Many physical symptoms relate to this caretaking dynamic. The caretaking part is used to taking care of others, and not themselves. Parts that don't like this, that want to have boundaries etc, can get exiled. These parts tend to be the ones using physical symptoms. Can be a legacy burden of patriarchy towards women. Can be having to take care of others (e.g. parents) as a child.

The parts of us that can't get through to us in other ways can use chronic pain, using whatever we're genetically predisposed to. Sometimes they're angry, sometimes they're desperate to be listened to. Once they're heard, they can stop doing this.

Parts may not be involved in symptoms, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

With things like headaches, it can often be a distraction. If, for example, a part is feeling sad, afraid of the sadness, ashamed of the sadness, it can use a headache as a distraction.

Stress gets a lot of blame for symptoms. People can be driven by their parts, get tired, stressed, and the pain can be a distraction from that.

Parts can use pain to get attention. They might be feeling neglected, and they learn that pain makes you listen to it.

How does trauma link to chronic pain? Can be used as a distraction, with protectors protecting you from the pain of the trauma. Can be exiled parts trying to get through to you.

Key thing is to not fight the pain, be curious, ask questions of it, listen to answers.

[Hope67]

Hi Snowdrop,
Thank you for writing these notes - I wish I'd watched this Conference session now - as I missed the fact it would be by Richard Swartz - I think chronic pain made me think it wasn't relevant to me, but parts communicating via pain, that's relevant.

I may try to see if I can still catch the conference - I know I'm already a couple of days late though.
Thanks again.
Hope 

[Snowdrop]

The first sessions (including the one by Richard Schwartz) are available for a few more hours, so you may still be able to catch it. Try here: https://www.avaiya.com/chronic-pain/schedule/. If that doesn't work, try here: https://youtu.be/1xgkAvNPKvo.