What is Pain Reprocessing Therapy?

Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) is an evidence-based approach that helps people overcome chronic neuroplastic symptoms by working with the brain’s ability to create new, more helpful neural pathways.

This approach was developed by the Pain Psychology Center, which is run by Alan Gordon, a key figure in the field of Neuroplastic Pain, who has trialled the approach with great success.

Pain Reprocessing focuses on teaching chronic pain sufferers to interpret and process sensations differently.

This is done by teaching the brain to interpret pain and other sensations as safer, and thereby deactivating the cycle of fear and pain that is usually at play behind most chronic neuroplastic conditions.

benefits of pain reprocessing

Pain Reprocessing Therapy works on the well-established premise that the brain is responsible how much pain or symptoms one experiences at any given moment. This does not mean that it assumes that symptoms are only emotional or just in your head. In fact, all kinds of physical symptoms are felt because the brain is responsible for interpreting the signals sent out by nociceptors - which are periphery sensory neurons that detect harmful stimuli.

Let’s take a short example.
If we touch a hot surface, we are quick to react and back away - this is because the nociceptors have communicated this threat to our brain, which led to a painful sensation that made us react and stop touching that surface! If it weren’t for those nociceptors, we would be more likely to injure ourselves seriously as we wouldn’t react.

But unnecessary pain or symptoms can also occur if these nociceptors get a bit overreactive, so that they start to interpret triggers or sensations that are not really dangerous as an actual threat. Because our brain receives this danger signal, we are capable of feeling pain even when there is no real danger (or injury) present.

The brain can misinterpret safe signals from the body as if they were dangerous. It can then send out a ‘false alarm’ even when there is no real damage.

This happens for 2 main reasons:

  • Emotional distress can make the brain more reactive to harmless triggers, or more sensitive to mild sensations.

  • Our own fear response to the symptoms trains the brain to register these sensations as a threat, priming it to be more hypersensitive and to create similar symptoms under similar circumstances.

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How does Pain Reprocessing Therapy work?

Pain reprocessing therapy exercises consist of a set of techniques that help you work with the brain’s neuroplasticity to elicit more helpful responses in the brain. It’s about training the brain to stop firing the alarm needlessly. As a result, you will become less sensitive and reactive to pain, and this reintroduces a sense of safety within your nervous system.

In other words, it’s about teaching yourself that the pain you are feeling is not likely to be a result of structural damage or injury (once these have been ruled out), so that you can start to interpret the sensations as less dangerous.

It is only natural to react with fear, anxiety, disappointment and frustration when symptoms intensify or recur, yet these very emotions serve to validate the assumption that the pain is somehow threatening, and therefore keeps the cycle of fear and pain going.

To put it simply, pain reprocessing therapy involves cultivating a different attitude and reaction to the pain, so that the danger signal ultimately stops being fired. This can lead to a complete elimination of pain, as the brain no longer remains hypersensitive.

Techniques used in PRT include:

  • meditation to induce the relaxation response;

  • somatic tracking exercises aimed at teaching you how to interpret pain more objectively;

  • working on the way you respond to triggers and negative thoughts as they arise.

I teach all of these techniques plus other effective mindbody tools in my 6-week Pain Reprocessing Program for chronic pain sufferers.

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As Your Pain Reprocessing Therapy Practitioner, I can introduce you to PRT techniques and other tools during a 1:1 Coaching Session or as part of my 6-week Online Pain Reprocessing Program (USD 79 one-time payment)

Thanks to increased awareness, as well as slight changes in your habitual ways of thinking and behaving, you can recover from conditioned, neuroplastic pain by working with your amazing brain.

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+ What is Pain Reprocessing Therapy?

Pain Reprocessing Therapy is an approach aimed at changing the way your brain processes pain triggers. The approach was developed by The Pain Psychology Center, and is based on the premise that pain is a danger signal. Because of this, any activities or situations which we perceive as threatening are more likely to cause or intensify pain.

+ Is Pain Reprocessing therapy evidence based?

A randomized clinical trial conducted in 2021 found that 66% of participants who were treated with pain reprocessing therapy had no more pain or nearly no pain after 4 weeks of therapy. 98% of them had improved pain levels. This was in stark contrast to the Placebo group (20% had no pain) and the group treated with conventional care (only 10% had no pain after treatment).

+ How does Pain Reprocessing Therapy work?

PRT for chronic pain or symptoms consists of teaching your brain to interpet triggers and painful sensations as less threatening. This lowers the 'threat level', which is associated with the generation of the pain response. Exercises like somatic tracking and meditations can be helpful in bringing about this change, however individuals generally need to learn other pain reprocessing techniques that they can employ 'on the go', whenever they are emotionally triggered.

Working with catastrophic thinking and health anxiety traits is normally required, which is why we recommend working with a Pain Reprocessing Practitioner initially.

+ Is PRT the same as Sarno's TMS method?

Pain Reprocessing Therapy is less focused on repressed emotions, when compared to Sarno's ideas. Although emotions play a huge role when it comes to pain onset, PRT can help you eliminate pain even though there may still be significant stressors in your life. Both approaches are entirely compatible, and both focus on decreasing the fear factor in the generation of chronic pain.

References & Resources

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