Persistent pain comes in many different forms. It may a have specific name, like fibromyalgia, or spondylitis. It may affect your head, or your shoulders, your pelvis, or your gut. It might be termed neurogenic, or non-specific. It may happen…
The stoic philosopher Epictetus wrote about ‘the real source of harm’. He concluded that it isn’t the person who takes a swipe at you who harms you. The harm comes from your beliefs about what the event means. While it…
What do you mean by acceptance in relation to persistent pain? How is this even possible? How can you be accepting of something so debilitating and unpleasant? Doesn’t this just mean giving up? These and other questions might legitimately be…
Pain is sometimes caused by tissue damage – but not always. You can have a lot of pain with a relatively minor injury, and no pain with something that may be life-threatening. These were two of the common misunderstandings about…
More and more people live with persistent pain. Between 30 and 40 per cent of men and women, rising to 50 per cent if you are going through peri/menopause, or over 75 years of age. There are common mistakes about…
There’s a common misconception that when you have pain, you have to wait until your pain stops before you can take action. Pain must cease before you can exercise, meditate, or return to hobbies. Truth is, the route to reducing…
We’ve all done it. Stubbed our toes, cut our hands with paper, tripped over our own feet. You know what you have done, you have the scars and bruising to show for it. And there’s a lot of pain at…
Being mindful about pain reduces its intensity and severity. It sounds counter-intuitive – why would you want to be mindful about pain? And yet your relationship with your pain – what you think about it, what you tell yourself, what…
Depression is one of the most common mental health problems. It is more common in women than in men and is the second leading cause of years lived with disability worldwide (back pain is number one). Relapse after an initial…