Freedom from Chronic Pain (FFCP) is a technique based on neuroscience and psychotherapy for assisting the brain to heal from the emotional effects of trauma that sensitise the body.  It was created by Professor of Medicine Dr Howard Schubiner (a pain specialist in the USA) and Australian pain psychotherapist Hal Greenham.  It is similar to another course I undertook by Ashok Gupta who specialises in chronic fatigue conditions. They use the brains neuroplasticity to learn how to deal with pain.   

 

To understand basically how these work, we need to understand how the brain produces symptoms to alert us to do something about incoming danger.  These signals can be emotional such as hurt, criticism, neglected, our needs not met, feeling unsafe, bullying, etc.  Or it can be an actual injury where we have felt sadness, anxiety, anger etc.  We may also be sensitised by early life experiences, learn to suppress emotions, or have been exposed to intergenerational trauma.  These feelings alert to brain to incoming danger. 

In doing so, it creates a neural circuit/feeling/memory so we recognise it in future and can prevent it.  These signals may present in the way of symptoms such as pain, anxiety or fatigue.   These symptoms will be enhanced by focusing, fighting, fearing and worrying about the pain causing a cyclical nature where the brain as our protector, recognises something is wrong and round the cycle we go again.  FFCP teaches techniques to block this cycle.

​

Along with FFCP, I have found that using psychotherapy emotional awareness and expression techniques to learn how to deal with the emotions that may have sensitised you to be more susceptible to your symptoms have often been the breakthrough necessary to deal with chronic pain.   

​

It entails taking a very detailed history of your background from birth to present to ensure that your pain has no structural cause and is what is known as a mind body syndrome.   This will be done by sending you a form to fill out prior to the consultation and discussing at your consultation.

​

I often use reiki  along with emotional expression techniques to allow healing of the base emotions that may have led to your symptoms.  If needed I will combine the treatment with acupuncture or flower essences which can also be utilised in psychotherapy treatments.   

​

​

​

​

​