Book Group Chapter 4: A New Perspective -- discussion of The Way Out by Alan Gordon

[Forest]

Another great meeting!

As with last week, we'd love to start a discussion thread below for Ch 4 (and for the other chapters in subsequent weeks). So if you had any questions for Michelle or me, or had any thoughts you'd like to share about the material covered, please post them below. (Click on "Register" and then "Facebook" to log on with Facebook.)

This week's topics and the video recording are below:

Michelle will discuss what happens when the brain believes the body is damaged. “My pain has to be caused by some injury, some damage to my body, or some physical cause, right?” She will go on to discuss how brains sometimes make mistakes and sometimes cause false alarms. She will discuss the three main barriers to believing that our pain could be caused by our brains: biology, conditioned responses, and medical diagnoses.​

Then there will be breakout groups where members can discuss barriers that they’ve encountered that made them certain there was a physical cause to their pain. After breakout groups, Forest will lead group members in a large group discussion where members will have a chance to share.​

After group sharing, Michelle will discuss how we overcome these barriers through evidence gathering. She will teach you how to search for exceptions, how to build a case for neuroplastic pain, and how to create evidence sheets to really reinforce to your brain that what you are experiencing is neuroplastic pain.​

Then there will be one more breakout group, where group members will be asked to create and share their own evidence sheet…searching for exceptions and building their own case for their neuroplastic pain. Then Forest will lead group members in a large group discussion where members will have a chance to share their evidence sheets.​

Finally Michelle will recap today’s session and talk a little bit about what’s coming up next week, the single most powerful technique of Pain Reprocessing Therapy—Somatic Tracking!​

A structured discussion of Chapter 4:

Our open-discussion afterwards:

More information about the other chapters and the book group can be found at www.prtrecovery.org/group.

 

[J Lo]

Thanks both of you and all those that shared. I was wondering if there is an actual Evidence Sheet Template that we could use? I like the idea of just having a one page sheet that I can refer to quickly when I need reinforcement.

 

[MlleButtercup]

Thanks both of you and all those that shared. I was wondering if there is an actual Evidence Sheet Template that we could use? I like the idea of just having a one page sheet that I can refer to quickly when I need reinforcement.

I think that's a great idea! It doesn't have to be anything fancy or complicated.

 

[MlleButtercup]

Here's an example of a way you can organize your evidence.

Gathering Evidence Graphic Organizer

"The more evidence you have that there’s nothing wrong with your body, the easier it is to believe that your brain is the culprit.” -Alan Gordon

Create an evidence sheet and record anything that convinces you that your pain is neuroplastic. You can use the graphic organizer below to get started or create your own.

Exception: Pain behaved differently than usual.​	Pain has an unusual pattern (one side of the body, mirror image on both sides)​	Pain moved and or spread.​	Pain changed based on time of day, location, or activity.​

Additional evidence could include having multiple diagnoses, experiencing increased pain during stressful situations, having pain is in an area of an old injury that already healed, having pain that is triggered by sounds, light, computer screens, foods, temperature, smells or weather changes.

 

[Forest]

Hi everyone. Here is a video of our discussion of Chapter 4 on March 20, 2022. Check it out!

This is the second time we've run the discussion group. If there is a theme that really resonates with you, you can scroll up to see how it was discussed the first time. If not, keep your life simple... you are done for the week!

If you want to share a direct link to this video, you can use the social media share icon just above this post. Here is a direct link:
https://www.prtrecovery.org/threads/18/post-147