Experiences in pain ambulance
In cooperation with Dr. G Schütze, chief physician of pain ambulance in the hospitals
Werdohl and Letmathe, our suggestion therapy has been tested wih many pain
patients also combined with several medical therapy attempts. The results of
those studies have been as interesting as encouraging:
Our relaxation and suggestion methods are basically a supplementary practice – no matter what pathology was given and what pain-therapeutic method was used. A combined therapy has been superior to a single medical one with patients that didn’t refuse any psychological therapy, even if the relevant person had had a longer “pain career” and had almost resigned to always experience this pain. Yes, many of them could be successfully medicated only with the "Pain relief" programme after a while. Their pain and their physical mental needs have improved by that. In contrast there were few patients – especially older ones – who were sceptical of our suggestion therapy. Those people have tested it reluctantly. Although some of them accepted the therapy finally and were surprised of the effects, a negative basic perception has proven to be a distinctive inhibition against a successful pain therapy combined with relaxation and suggestions.
These studies make it clear that the psychological aspect of chronic pain plays a far greater role than it is generally assumed. Surely: It has been known for a long time that our brain can not only register or stun pain but it can also “create” it. The fact that uneasiness and fear, trouble and depression are typical mental pain-strengtheners, which surely all of us have experienced. But far too often it is ignored that pain does not just cause suffering but also brings along a “benefit”, devotion and sympathy to humans. In fact many people prefer physical pain to mental suffering caused by missing affection. This mental mechanism is often the reason why people persist with chronic pain rather than seek the benefits that they could gain through therapy. And accordingly lots of mysterious feelings of pain that have no (or only unspecific) organic causes can be explained. Children –contrary to many adults- especially show mentally caused pain very impressively as the cause is often directly visible in them. Children often complain of stomachache if the parents want to go out at night, headache before a test or hurting wrists when not wanting to do homework.
If psychogenic pain is really „present“ (neuro-physical verifiable) or
if it is just imagined can be hardly proven in everyday life. Probably
even the relevant
person itself is not able to make a true statement about it because normally
everybody is convinced to really “have” that pain.
In pain ambulance you often meet persistent chronic pain without any organic
reason. Verifiable they could not physically exist. Therefore they either are
just pretended or they just exist in the fantasy of the relevant person as
the following example shows: A 57 year old patient, widowed and single had
been suffering
from unspecific backache (lumbar vertebra syndrome) for a long time. She had
several therapeutic measurements; in one of them strong local pain anaesthesia
was performed. Although the related body part was totally benumbed the woman
still complained about an increasing intensification of the pain. Patient devotion
of the doctor and the use of stereo deep suggestion therapy made the patient
free of pain (temporarily).
In lots of other cases it is demonstrated that mental “strokes” are very important
for recovery of pain patients.