Based on the authors 20 years of clinical experience and research using EMDR to treat pain, this book shows how to harness natural brain capacities such as attention, memory and sensory processing to change the brain activity which maintains pain. The new 'Change Your Brain Change Your Pain' offers a combination of insightful information and practical real-world strategies for reversing the brain activity which maintains chronic pain and includes;

• How to understand your pain in terms of how your brain works.
• How to match pain-related problems onto brain activity and choose strategies that target the brain activity involved.
• How to use sensory stimulation to change the brain activity associated with pain
• 15 x brain-smart bottom-up and top down strategies for overcoming pain.
• 40 x activities for reversing the various physical and emotional effects of chronic pain.
• 15 x guided audio self-help exercises (2 hours of audio downloads).
• Updated information on the connection between stress and pain (e.g. trauma, and attachment problems).

About the Author:

Mark Grant is a psychologist/researcher who was an early adopter of EMDR in the treatment of chronic pain after becoming frustrated with the limitations of traditional psychological methods - particularly their inability to modify the sensory aspect of pain. He has created a treatment manual and a variety of self-help resources based on the method. His app 'anxiety release based on E.M.D.R' resulted in the first documented case of an app being used to alleviate physical discomfort associated with chronic pain. Mark lives and works in Melbourne Australia.

Mark Grant is a psychologist/researcher who was an early adopter of EMDR in the treatment of chronic pain after becoming frustrated with the limitations of traditional psychological methods - particularly their inability to modify the sensory aspect of pain. He has created a treatment manual and a variety of self-help resources based on the method. His app 'anxiety release based on E.M.D.R' resulted in the first documented case of an app being used to alleviate physical discomfort associated with chronic pain. Mark lives and works in Melbourne Australia.

Audio downloads xi Introduction 1 How to get the most out of this book 4 Part One: Know Your Brain Know Your Pain Your Brain in Pain 9 First principles 9 Introducing your brain 10 Bottom up and top down processing: 11 Bottom-up and top-down processing of pain 12 Left and right hemisphere processing of pain 17 Two key brain functions that maintain pain 19 Summary 20 How Pain Gets into Your Brain 21 Stress, pain, and your brain 22 How severe stress leads to pain 25 Biochemical effects of severe stress 25 Summary 32 7 'Brain-Smart' Steps to Change Pain 33 7 'Brain-Smart' Steps to Overcoming Pain 37 Summary 43 Part Two: Bottom-up Strategies for Changing Pain Tame Your Pain (touch) 47 Why we need touch 48 Why we are afraid to touch 49 What is Healing Touch? 50 How to use Healing Touch to feel better 53 Four 'Healing Touch' strategies for taming your pain 54 Summary 63 Tame Your Pain (Bls) 65 What is the Orienting Response and why does it matter? 65 What is bilateral stimulation? 67 How can bls help you feel better? 68 Bls at work: June's story 69 How to use bls to tame your pain 72 How to use the bilateral stimulation audio resources 74 Overcoming attention problems 74 Other sensory strategies 75 Summary 78 Understanding Feelings 79 What are feelings and why do they matter? 81 Emotions and Your Brain 83 Normal emotional reactions to chronic pain 84 Summary 91 Regulating emotions 93 Accepting feelings 94 Interpreting feelings 98 Bilateral stimulation 101 Touch 102 Enjoyable activities 102 Sharing feelings 103 Acting on Feelings 104 Mindfulness strategies 107 Summary 110 Trauma processing 111 What is EMDR and how is it different from other therapies? 111 How EMDR changes your brain 113 Trauma and pain 114 Dissociation: the key to pain memories 114 The eight stages of EMDR 115 The positive cognition 116 What happens in an EMDR session? 117 Esther's story: healing accident-related pain and trauma 119 How you can benefit from EMDR 124 Summary 124 Self-Care (emotional) 127 Emotional Self-Care and Your Brain 129 Attachment problems and pain 131 How to tell if you do not have enough social support 132 How to increase your emotional support 134 Safety 136 Spiritual practices 139 Summary 141 Self-Care (physical) 143 What is sleep and why do you need it? 144 Pain and sleep 146 Five ways to sleep better 147 Exercise and Pain 152 The Benefits of Exercise 152 How to exercise 154 Diet and Pain 155 Summary 157 Part Three: Top-down Strategies for Overcoming Pain Uncovering the Meaning of Your Pain 161 The PFC - where 'you' come from 161 Core negative self-beliefs 162 How to uncover the meaning of your pain 164 How to develop a positive post-pain identity 166 Developing healthy self-beliefs 168 Summary 169 Dealing with other stressors 171 Life is stressful 171 Effects of chronic pain on relationships 173 '3 is a crowd': the problem of third-party involvement 175 The blame game 175 The lack of a medical diagnosis 177 Managing expectations regarding medical treatment 177 Dealing with 'other stressors' 179 Other cognitive strategies 179 Summary 185 Reintegration 187 Normal brain, normal you 187 How I lost my hand and found my life: The Michael Weisskopf Story 188 Looking forward 190 You can go your own way 191 Summary 193 Appendices 195 Appendix A 195 Appendix B 196 Appendix C 198 Appendix D 200 Appendix E 201 References 204 Index 214