How to heal chronic pain & anxiety - Interview #309 Dr. David Hanscom
791 views · Published 13 March 2017 · 50:21 · Indexed 26 October 2026
Channel: Marie Benard · 2017 · People & Blogs
Check time stamps below to jump ahead www.backincontrol.com 1:05 - David shares his experience of chronic pain as a spine surgeon 2:23 - what David's learned since the first edition of his book - chronic pain isn't just about back pain - how anxiety is actually the pain we feel, triggering stress chemicals 4:00 - how he's been pain-free for 10 years - but how easily the symptoms can return if he stops his practices 5:35 - expressive writing and how it's helped him - the importance of writing 6:54 to 11:50 - Dr Hanscom walks us through how and why to do expressive writing - he calls it a "mechanical meditation" 11:28 - David talks about the importance of throwing the writing away after (not holding on to it) 12:00 - 16:03 should people be taking time off work? How do people balance healing and living the rest of their lives? David takes us through the 5 steps he asks his patients to go through before he'll schedule surgery - pain pathways vs play pathways 1 Laying the Foundation 2 Forgiveness and Play 3 Moving Forward 4 Expanding Your Consciousness 16:05 - the anxiety that's present but unconscious - "anxiety is the pain" 18:17 - the challenge of anxiety and the "ring of fire" - learning to become comfortable with uncomfortable feelings (that article is here http://www.backincontrol.com/the-ring-of-fire/) 20:00 -23:35 - how he avoided anxiety as a successful doctor and what's a better solution 23:38 - the danger of talking about our pain and how it shrinks our lives 26:43 - the importance of a whole-istic approach to health care and how looking at just one solution almost never works 28:35 - forgiveness (stage 2) 29:35 to 43:11 depression - anxiety - anger - self-destructive choices - learning to be okay being depressed as a way to get through it - Dr Hanscom talks more about expressive writing 36:14 - more on thought suppression and expressive writing and dealing with really negative thoughts 43:12 - the difference between positive thinking and positive substitution in relation to chronic pain
