emotional pain Archives - Amazing Health Advances

New App Offers Relief for Parents Mourning the Loss of a Child

The AHA! Team — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 06:10:12 +0000

Uppsala University via News-Medical – A new study shows that an app can help parents who are mourning the loss of a child. Parents who used the app for three months reported reduced symptoms of prolonged grief and post-traumatic stress, and also had fewer negative thoughts. Some parents thought the app should be offered early in the mourning process. This is demonstrated in a new study from Uppsala University, published in the scholarly journal Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. In the acute grief following a death, it is natural for family members to think it feels unreal and difficult to accept that the person who has died will not be coming back. For most people, the intense grief diminishes over time. They can accept the grief, live positively and manage to look ahead. However, some people become stuck in acute grief, a condition known as ‘prolonged grief’. They may preserve the child’s room as it was or visit the grave very frequently, even several years after the loss. It becomes a kind of ritual and a duty that they cannot escape. We have investigated whether the app can alleviate symptoms of prolonged grief and of depression and post-traumatic stress as well. In the study, we also investigate whether destructive patterns such as rumination and avoidance can be improved in this way.” Josefin Sveen, Professor of Clinical Psychology and first author of the study There are several apps based on cognitive behavioural therapy for coping with various mental health problems. A common feature of these apps is that they help the user to normalise thoughts, behaviours and feelings that are natural in the various situations they address. Based on previous self-help app In her previous research on the app PTSD Coach, a self-help app for people suffering from PTSD, Sveen discovered that parents whose child has died lack help in managing their grief. She therefore began to develop the new app in the hope that this could help them. Initially, she thought of parents whose child had died of cancer. Later, this group was expanded to include children dying from other causes. The study involved 248 parents (80 per cent of them mothers). All had lost a child in the last 10 years. Almost half of the children had died of cancer and the average age at the time of death was 11. Participation was entirely voluntary. The participants were contacted by letter and via social media hosted by the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund and Spädbarnsfonden (the Swedish Infant Death Foundation), which also co-financed the study. Half of the participants received access to the app, the other half had to wait three months before being allowed to use it. “Grief meter’ The app has four components. Firstly, learning about grief and prolonged grief, and learning to accept grief. Secondly, help in finding support in your surroundings, for example, from friends, relations or colleagues, and easily accessible contact details to support organisations. Thirdly, practical exercises and strategies, including relaxation and help in writing about your grief and your feelings. One exercise involves writing a letter to the child who has died. It can also involve visiting physical places that you have previously avoided, or looking at photos of the child. The fourth component is a ‘grief meter’ in which the user can rate their own grief and register how strong or weak the feeling of grief has been at different points during the day. “Many participants thought this was particularly useful. Being able to see that their grief changed from day to day, that there are certain times when it is worst, and that they can feel quite all right in between,” Sveen says. She continues: “I am glad we have succeeded in producing an app that parents feel helps them. The feedback we received from them was that they appreciated the variety of functions offered by the app – as they described it, it was helpful to have several types of support in just one place. The self-assessments that they made of their health also show that their prolonged grief symptoms declined thanks to the app. Some parents thought that in future, the app should be offered early in the process of mourning.” Next step young people The study shows that the app can be a first step in providing information about grief and strategies for managing the challenges that grief brings. The next steps will be, firstly, to follow up the study in a year’s time, and secondly, to conduct a similar study with an app for young people who have lost a parent and/or a sister or brother. Source: Uppsala University Journal reference: Sveen, J., et al. (2024). My grief app for prolonged grief in bereaved parents: a randomised waitlist-controlled trial. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. doi.org/10.1080/16506073.2024.2429068. To read the original article click here.

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It’s Okay Not To Be Okay

The AHA! Team — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 06:13:29 +0000

Dr. Caroline Leaf – In this podcast (episode #594) and blog, I talk about the 100% happiness fallacy, and why learning how to embrace your pain and rewrite your story is an important part of being truly happy. This is a replay of a Neurolive webinar I did on my app. For the full webinar AD-free, please see Neurocycle.app or look for Neurocycle on the App Store or Google Play. Does it feel to you like you have to be happy all the time? Often, it feels like happiness and being positive is touted as the wonder drug to solve our problems. It is easy to feel like there is something wrong with you if you are not as happy as other people seem to be! Yes, being happy and optimistic can have a positive impact on our minds, brain and body, but thinking happy thoughts doesn’t just eliminate whatever we are going through. To truly heal and find some measure of intrinsic happiness, we must move beyond positive affirmations and thinking, and face what is holding us back through embracing, processing and reconceptualizing our past pain. If we don’t do this, we won’t truly benefit from positive psychology and happiness techniques. Using the latter before we have processed and managed what has happened to us often results in a toxic positivity cycle, where we feel bad for simply being human and try to ignore our more uncomfortable emotions, which only makes us feel worse! In fact, research indicates that pursuing happiness in a toxically positive way can impact our ability to fully embrace the human experience, with all its ups and downs and uncertainties. Our lives are infused with fragility, setbacks and unpredictability as much as they are filled with passion, excitement and joy. Using happiness or positive thinking to mask the harsh realities of life will backfire because there is no avoiding what it means to be human. An adverse emotional response to an adverse life situation is normal. It is okay to not feel okay. It is okay to not be happy all the time. An adverse emotional response to an adverse life situation is normal. Understandably, we don’t want to get stuck in a dark place, but happiness is not a bandage we can slap on all of life’s wounds and just “keep on keeping on”. It is an important part of life, yes, but it also means different things to different people, and will not take away that pain that we experience as we go through life. If you feel pressured to be happy all the time, take the time to pause and examine your thoughts. Ask yourself: Is the happiness fallacy taking up mental real estate in your mind? Do you feel guilty when you feel unhappy? Do you think that there is something wrong with you when you feel sad, upset or angry? Do you feel shame, guilt, and embarrassment if you don’t feel happy all the time? Do you often tell yourself and others that you just need to “think a positive/happy thought” if you are feeling sad, angry, or any emotion that is considered uncomfortable or negative? Do you find yourself ignoring or repressing your suffering or pain? Don’t let your guilt consume you; rather, be curious.. If you said yes to any of these or all the above, work on reframing how you see happiness and its role in your life. Don’t let your guilt consume you; rather, be curious, almost as if you were listening to a friend tell you about their thoughts. And, when you find yourself falling into a pattern of using toxic positivity to suppress your more uncomfortable emotions, pause and say out loud: “Not only is it okay for me to not feel okay, it is part of what it means to be human, and trying to be happy all the time can actually hurt me and make my pain worse.” For more on the 100% happiness fallacy and learning how to embrace your pain and rewrite your story, listen to my podcast (episode #594). Podcast Highlights 2:05 The 100% happiness fallacy 4:09 Toxic positivity can make us feel worse! 6:20 Happiness is just one part of what it means to be human 8:02 Happiness means different things to different people 11:45 Feelings of happiness are actually pretty rare! 16:00 It is easy to feel unsatisfied even when we are happy 17:50 To be happy, we also must embrace & process the hard things in life 22:32 How to be okay with not being okay Switch On Your Brain LLC. is providing this podcast as a public service. Reference to any specific viewpoint or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by our organization. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. If you have any questions about this disclaimer, please contact info@drleaf.com. This podcast and blog are for educational purposes only and are not intended as medical advice. We always encourage each person to make the decision that seems best for their situation with the guidance of a medical professional. To read the original article click here.

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How To Move on Without an Apology

The AHA! Team — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 08:59:31 +0000

Dr. Caroline Leaf – In this podcast (episode #470) and blog, I talk about how to move on without an apology. Unfortunately, there will be times in life when someone hurts you and refuses to apologize, regardless of what you say or do. Here are just a few tips to help you when this happens: -Recognize and honor what happened to you. Remind yourself that it is not just “in your head”. You don’t need someone to admit they hurt you to validate what happened to you. -Allow yourself to feel the pain and emotions. Acknowledge how the person made you feel. Their lack of apology doesn’t mean it was okay, and you can be sad or upset about it. -Put boundaries up, especially if someone keeps hurting you or taking advantage of you. You may even have to pause or end the relationship—don’t feel guilty about this. Part of keeping someone accountable may include taking away their access to you. But make sure these boundaries are healthy and not just a distraction from your pain. For more on healthy versus toxic boundaries, listen to my recent podcast. Work on forgiving the person who hurt you even if they don’t apologize -Work on forgiving the person who hurt you even if they don’t apologize to disentangle yourself from the pain. For more on this, listen to my recent podcast on forgiveness. -Explore the “why” behind your feelings, and a great way to do this is using the using the Neurocycle mind management method, which I discuss in detail in my latest book Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess and my app Neurocycle. The Neurocycle is a way to harness your thinking power that I have developed and researched over the past three decades. It has 5 steps: Gather awareness of how you feel mentally and physically when you think about what happened. Reflect on how you feel. Why do you think you feel this way? Write down your reflections to help organize your thinking. Recheck: think about what your thoughts and feelings are trying to tell you. What does it say about how you view the person/situation? What is your antidote—how will you take action to protect your mental health and take control of your story? Look for clues in your writing, then start to reconceptualize the way you are thinking about what happened and the person who hurt you. Do your active reach. This is a thought or action you need to practice daily to help you reconceptualize what you worked on in the previous steps. What are you going to do to protect your own wellbeing and boundaries? What action steps are you going to take? Remember that you can’t fix or change the person who is impacting you in a negative way—don’t try to force someone to apologize. Focus on your own response and healing. Remember that moving forward and healing doesn’t depend on someone’s apology. Don’t give that person this power over you. Remind yourself that you get to write your own story. You cannot control the circumstances of life, but you can control your reaction to what happens to you. You have power over your own story, and you do not have to stay connected to the person who harmed you. For more on moving on without an apology, listen to my podcast (episode #470). Podcast Highlights 0:50 What happens when someone hurts you & doesn’t apologize 2:08 Tips to manage your mental health when someone doesn’t apologize 5:47, 15:57 How to use mind management to heal when someone hurts you This podcast and blog are for educational purposes only and are not intended as medical advice. We always encourage each person to make the decision that seems best for their situation with the guidance of a medical professional. To read the original article click here.

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Why We Shouldn’t (and Can’t ) Just “Forgive & Forget”

AHA Publisher — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 07:00:45 +0000

Dr. Caroline Leaf – In this podcast (episode #272) and blog, I talk about why forgetting doesn’t fix or heal something. As much we would love to permanently forget the bad things that happen to us, we can’t just erase traumatic events from our memory, as they impact our brain and body. As I have said many times before, thoughts are real physical structures we build into our brain with our mind in response to what we experience. Here’s how this works: how we react or respond to various life situations and the world around us is called the mind-in-action. The mind-in-action is how you uniquely think, feel, and choose. This mind-in-action changes the way your brain is shaped (through neuroplasticity) and how it functions, as well as your biochemistry, and the genes associated with mental and physical health, which is why mind-management is essential! Let’s look at a traumatic experience we are all too familiar with. Our personal experience of COVID-19 is quite literally a physical tree-like structure in our brains with all the associated memories of our unique experiences, which can affect us mentally, emotionally and physically. No matter how much we pretend that this pandemic doesn’t exist, or want to shut our eyes and hope it goes away, we cannot, as it does exist, and our unique experience of it affects us all in different ways, and we all need to find different ways to manage these effects. That is not to say all types of forgetting are bad. We may distract ourselves temporarily to cope in the moment or compartmentalize our experiences to deal with another pressing matter, which is fine and a very human thing to do! However, we cannot escape the long-term mental and physical repercussions of a traumatic experience because it is as real as a virus like COVID-19, eliciting the same immune responses in the brain and body. We cannot just “forget”; we have to learn how to reconceptualize our pain and fears through mind-management, as I discuss in my latest book Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess. In fact, there are some great ways to distract your mind in a healthy way, like the box and windows technique, where you make a mental note to start dealing with the root of the trauma or pain when you are ready. But, at the end of the day, you need to learn to become a healthy responder instead of just reacting to what happens to you, or trying to forget or avoid it. You, with your mind that is always in action, are powerful; you are the ultimate change agent in your life. What does this look like? When you learn how to manage your mind and self-regulate your thinking, this builds healthy neural networks in your brain, which lay the foundation for more cognitive resilience and healthier responses to stressful events. The more you practice this way of thinking, the more you can learn to be a “first responder” in every and all situations. Essentially, you are learning how to catch and edit your thoughts and reactions before they trigger toxic chain reactions and become ingrained neural networks, a.k.a. bad habits. Mind management also teaches us how to embrace, process, and reconceptualize thoughts that have already become enmeshed in the networks of our minds as trauma reactions and negative thinking patterns. This is a lifelong journey, a lifestyle, but one that’s well worth the effort! Indeed, if we don’t transform our pain through reconceptualization, we can transmit it, and it can take over our thinking and relationships. We can get ourselves into serious cycles of toxic rumination and worry if we refuse to face our issues head-on. As I always say, it is in the breakdown that we break down toxic thoughts, habits, and trauma. We all need to learn how to reflect on our experiences in a way that helps us accept that even though we may not be able to make sense of them, we can still deal with them and move forward! To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Leaf click here.

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Pain Is Always a Perception’: Physical Therapy Can Help Prevent, Treat Opioid Use Disorder

AHA Publisher — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 07:00:31 +0000

West Virginia University via EurekAlert – When you think of ways to treat opioid use disorder, you might think methadone clinics and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. You probably don’t imagine stretches and strengthening exercises. But Anne Swisher–professor at the West Virginia University School of Medicine–is working to address opioid misuse in an unconventional way: through physical therapy. She and her colleagues have enhanced physical therapy instruction at WVU to emphasize the profession’s role in preventing and treating opioid use disorder. “Students have different interests and passions within the profession, and they find their niche,” said Swisher, a researcher and director of scholarship in the Division of Physical Therapy. “No matter what their passion is, there is a way they can make a difference, whether it’s by preventing people from starting down the road of opioids–by minimizing pain medication and doing movement interventions–or whether it’s by helping people in the recovery process become healthier overall.” Swisher and her team devised a model to show doctor of physical therapy students how key topics in their curriculum–such as women’s health, pediatric care and sports therapy–could all address opioid use disorder in various ways. Their model–which was published in prestigious rehabilitation journal Physical Therapy–is innovative because it goes beyond musculoskeletal issues and addresses how physical therapists can assist people across the lifespan, from neonatal to hospice settings. It also illustrates how physical therapists can help improve human movement across what Swisher calls the “whole addiction spectrum.” “In our curriculum, our students learn about all of these different aspects–what to do with somebody who’s critically ill, the appropriate developmental milestones for children, how to help older people stay active–but it was really just a matter of connecting it all together,” she said. For instance, by making it easier for pregnant women to manage their aches and pains without opioids, physical therapists can help prevent neonatal abstinence syndrome in newborns. By combining special exercises with pharmacological treatment, they can reduce opioid use in patients after spinal surgery. And by promoting healthy physical activity in general, they can support people as they recover from opioid use disorder. “I think it comes back to movement,” Swisher said. “One of the catchphrases we like to use is, ‘Motion is lotion for the joints.’ And we know that regular physical activity releases the body’s own opioid chemicals. That’s the so-called ‘runner’s high’ that makes us feel good. Physical therapists can partner with people to work through their barriers to becoming more physically active.” What are some of those barriers? Well, it depends. An overweight patient may find movement difficult because he has knee pain. A patient recovering from hip surgery may fear the pain of exercise so much that she avoids attempting it. And a new mom may find caring for her baby so overwhelming that even a walk around the block feels herculean. “Pain is always a perception,” Swisher said. “It is always influenced by your own experiences, your motivation. If you get a tattoo to celebrate something monumental, you’re causing tissue damage, but you don’t perceive that as painful as putting your hand on the stove accidentally. We’re educating our students–and our colleagues–to understand that whole context working with pain.” As described in the article, she and her team also incorporated their model into the clinical rotations that DPT students complete in rural Appalachian communities. As part of their rotations, the students choose a topic to develop into an educational program for a specific population in their community. They research issues specific to that community and consider those issues when designing the program. “So, you get a small group of students who love women’s health,” Swisher said. “Maybe they develop an exercise program for women who have had babies that might have chronic pelvic pain.” All of the programs are stored electronically so that as the students make their way through their rotations, they can access each other’s programs and work with their own clinical supervisors to tailor them to the communities they’re serving. “I think when we’re looking at any kind of healthcare provider going into these rural communities that are really struggling with addiction, you have to look at those psychosocial and emotional reasons why people might find a desire to escape some pain, whether they perceive it as physical pain or whether it becomes more of an emotional pain,” Swisher said. “We have to consider how we as physical therapists interact with people as complex, bio-psychosocial individuals.” The complex, bio-psychosocial individuals who call Appalachia home have been disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis. Appalachians are more likely to die prematurely than people who live elsewhere in the United States, and opioid-related deaths are a main reason for this disparity, reports the Appalachian Regional Commission. West Virginia, in particular, has been hit hard. In 2018, the state had the nation’s highest rate of opioid-involved overdose deaths, according to the National Institutes of Health. That same year, healthcare providers in the state wrote 69.3 opioid prescriptions for every 100 West Virginians. The national average? Just 51.4. Preparing the next generation of physical therapists to deal with opioid use disorder is important because “there’s such a huge issue here in Appalachia, especially in rural communities,” Swisher said. “If you’re a physical therapist, you don’t need a special certification in opioid recovery to influence something across this whole addiction spectrum,” she said. “Just do the things that you do as a physical therapist, in your area.” To read the original article click here.

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A Prescription for the Pain of Rejection: Acetaminophen and Forgiveness

AHA Publisher — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 08:00:48 +0000

University of California – Los Angeles Health Sciences via EurekAlert – Research suggests the combination may alleviate the emotional and physical pains of being excluded. Most everyone experiences the pain of social rejection at some point in their lives. It can be triggered by the end of a romantic relationship, losing a job or being excluded by friends. The emotional distress that often accompanies these experiences is called social pain, and it may cause sadness, depression and loneliness, as well as actual physical pain, research has shown. A study, published recently in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine may have found an antidote – forgiveness combined with acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. For the study, researchers followed a group of healthy adults for three weeks and randomly assigned them to receive daily doses of either 1,000 mg of acetaminophen, 400 mg of a placebo potassium pill, or no pill. They also measured their levels of forgiveness on a daily basis using a questionnaire. For example, participants were asked to rate how strongly they agree or disagree with statements, such as, “I hope this person gets what’s coming to them for what he/she did to me.” George Slavich, PhD, director of the UCLA Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research, a senior author on the study discussed the results. What Is the Key Takeaway from This Study? When combined with a tendency to forgive, taking acetaminophen substantially reduced how much social pain people felt over time. More specifically, participants taking acetaminophen who were high in forgiveness exhibited an 18.5% reduction in social pain over the 20-day study period. What made researchers think that acetaminophen and forgiveness might ease the pain of rejection? Research has shown that physical pain and social pain are influenced by some of the same biological processes in the brain and body. Based on this research, we thought that acetaminophen, which is commonly used to treat physical pain, might also be able to reduce social pain. Based on the study’s findings, what is it about acetaminophen and forgiveness that help alleviate social pain? Do they act synergistically? We think they help reduce experiences of social pain in different ways. For example, acetaminophen likely reduces social pain by influencing pain signaling in the brain through its effects on specific brain pathways. On the other hand, forgiveness has been found to lessen peoples’ feelings of stress and anger following experiences of social rejection and exclusion. Based on the findings from our study, it appears as though acetaminophen acts synergistically with peoples’ ability to forgive to alleviate the feelings of social pain that are commonly associated with rejection and exclusion. How Does Social Pain Affect People Emotionally? Experiencing a socially painful life event, like a relationship break-up, is one of the strongest predictors of developing depression in adolescence and adulthood. Social pain is also associated with decreased cognitive functioning and increased aggression and engagement in self-defeating behaviors, like excessive risk taking and procrastination. Why Does Social Rejection Also Cause Physical Pain? We can only speculate about why social rejection causes physical pain, but one possibility is that physical pain alerts the person to the fact that an important social relationship has been threatened or lost. This may motivate the person to try to rekindle the relationship or form other relationships to help ensure continued safety and survival. Are There Further Studies Planned? Looking forward, we hope to better understand the mechanisms underlying how acetaminophen and forgiveness alleviate social pain and, most importantly, how we can use this knowledge to enhance human health and wellbeing. To read the original article click here.

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